Facebook and MySpace cull 3,500 sex offenders

by Stevie Smith - Dec 2 2009, 12:45

Working to further improve the security and safety of their respective services, leading social networks Facebook and MySpace have moved to cull the accounts of more than 3,500 known sex offenders within the New York area.

The social networks were able to identify and remove the accounts in question on the back of the Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-Stop), which was passed in 2008 and requires that all known sex offenders in New York State register their e-mail addresses and all other online aliases.

Speaking to gathered journalists during a press conference, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Facebook had blocked the accounts of 2,782 known sex offenders, while News Corp-owned MySpace culled accounts held by 1,796.

“We applaud and support Attorney General Cuomo’s leadership in his ground breaking use of e-STOP to make the Internet a safer place,” said MySpace CSO Hemanshu Nigram in a statement.

“MySpace utilized e-STOP to complement technology we had already put in place to remove registered sex offenders from our community as part of a comprehensive approach to protecting Internet users from predators,” he added.

According to Cuomo, some of the sex offenders who lost their account access were registered members of both Facebook and MySpace, while many of them had violated their parole restrictions by attaching themselves to the popular community-based sites.

With Facebook and MySpace clearly setting a precedent, Cuomo also said the Attorney General’s office has dispatched 17 letters to other social networks encouraging them to similarly apply the information regarding sex offenders that has been gathered through the e-Stop law.

Around the Web