Facebook under investigation

Peter Viglietta
News Editor

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has begun an investigation into the privacy and security policies of Facebook, the social networking site that now has an estimated 15 million users and whose CEO recently turned down on offer of $1billion from Yahoo for the site.

According to a Sept.24 press release from Attorney General's office, Cuomo is investigating Facebook over representations the company makes about safety measures in place on its website. In a letter accompanying a subpoena for documents, Cuomo told the company that preliminary investigations had revealed a number of defects in the site's safety controls.

In recent weeks, investigators from Cuomo's office have conducted a number of undercover tests of Facebook's safety controls and procedures. Posing as underage users, the investigators found they were repeatedly solicited by adult sexual predators on Facebook and could easily access a wide range of pornographic images and videos. Cuomo's office claimed that Facebook often did not respond, and at other times was slow to respond, to complaints submitted by the investigators, who posed as parents of underage users, asking the site to take action against predators who had harassed their children.

"My office is concerned that Facebook's promise of a safe website is not consistent with its performance in policing its site and responding to complaints," Cuomo said according to the press release. "Parents have a right to know what their children will encounter on a website that is aggressively marketed as safe."

On August 30, an OAG investigator created a profile for a fourteen-year-old female high school student from New York. Approximately a week later, she received a Facebook message from a 24 year old man, asking "do you have any nude pics?" The investigator lodged a complaint with Facebook as the student's mother complaining that her daughter was being solicited by older men. The next day, Facebook sent a response saying that Facebook "will review the reported material and remove anything that violates our Terms of Use." Cuomo's office claims that Facebook has taken no further action, and the 24-year old's profile is still available on the Facebook site.

The press release also stated that investigators had found a number of groups on Facebook where people had posted ‘hardcore' pornographic images, that the investigators had submitted complaints, and that Facebook had yet to remove all of the inappropriate content.

In subpoenaing the company, Cuomo has asked for Facebook to show him all complaints received by Facebook regarding inappropriate solicitation of underage users and inappropriate content on the site, as well as all responses and interventions made by the site. The subpoena also includes all Facebook policies on user safety and all representations made to consumers about the safety of the site.