Facebook child safety concerns
FACEBOOK does not know how many under-13s or sex offenders are using its platform in the UK, an inquiry has heard.
The social media giant also uses no methods to try to verify if a given date of birth is accurate or if someone attempting to create an account is on the sex offenders’ register, according to an executive.
Senior global operations boss Julie de Bailliencourt, its former safety policy manager, gave evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse yesterday.
De Bailliencourt said the difficulty with sex offenders is “this registry’s not open to the public, so I would hazard law enforcement may be best placed to understand the scope”.
The site, which has about 40million UK users, has some “technical hurdles” to stop under-age users registering.
De Bailliencourt noted that teachers, parents or family members can report an account once it is set up.