Home Secretary to urge Facebook to install 'panic button'

Published on Tuesday 16 March 2010 21:50

HOME Secretary Alan Johnson will hold talks with Facebook later this week about the social networking site's refusal to install a "panic button".

Campaigners are urging better security on networking sites following the conviction of Peter Chapman for the kidnap, rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall.

Yesterday Mr Johnson and junior Home Office minister Alan Campbell said they will meet representatives from the site in an attempt to persuade them to install a feature which links to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre.

Mr Campbell told MPs he could see no reason why Facebook and other social networking sites would not adopt the system.

Convicted sex offender Chapman used a false identity to befriend and entrap the teenager through Facebook, which has 23 million UK users. Mr Campbell, responding to a debate in Parliament's Westminster Hall, said he was "disappointed" that not all social networking sites had added Ceop's "report abuse" button.

Labour's John Robertson said: "In the case of Ashleigh Hall, more could have been done by Facebook to protect her."