Do you have any questions around safe use of the internet/Facebook? Ask the experts at Facebook - 3x £100 vouchers to be won

[EllieMumsnet]

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Please view the answers here

We’ve been working with Facebook to find out the key areas users want to know about the social media platform. From our research and activity so far we have found 4 main areas that parents have questions around: ‘Moderating content’, ‘User's data privacy’, ‘Mental health & social media’ and ‘Safe use of the internet/Facebook’. We will be running 4 Q&A’s in order to cover these areas and allow MNers the chance to ask their questions on each topic.

This Q&A is about ‘safe use of the internet/Facebook’. This covers subjects such as teaching your children online safety, online safety being taught in schools, and Facebook sharing advice, tips and resources on how to stay safer on the platform.

Here’s what Facebook has to say: “We're committed to keeping you, your friends and your family safe when you're on Facebook – and online in general. Of course, we understand that it's especially important for parents that their children always stay safe. That's why we offer parents tools and resources to help them understand online safety so they can have the right conversations with their children."
#AskFacebook

Would you like to know the most important things to teach your teenagers about how to stay safe online? How to approach the topic of online safety with your children or what to do if you know of someone being bullied? Perhaps you’d like to know how Facebook promotes online safety? Maybe you’d like to know what resources Facebook has made available both online and in schools to promote safety on their platform?

Whatever questions you have around safe use of the internet/Facebook, please post them on the thread below and we will choose approximately 10 for Facebook to answer. Everyone who posts their questions will be entered into a prize draw where 3 MNers will win a £100 voucher of their choice (from a list).

If you would like to ask questions about ‘moderating content’ please click here
If you would like to ask questions about ‘user’s data privacy’ please click here
If you would like to ask questions about ‘mental health & social media’ please click here

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

[BristolMum96]

How is Facebook promoting safe use of the internet for teens and young people?

[MrsFrTedCrilly]

What actions does Facebook take is online bullying is reported to them?

[llynnnn]

Are facebook working with any schools or local councils/agencies to promote and support the safe use of the internet

[sharond101]

How do u set up a teens account to be as safe as possible?

[daniel1996]

Can facebook have a reminder which is sent to an individual who has been actively scrolling and posting for over, say 3 hours, just to take an enforced break ?

[JanuarySun]

Do you have any way to report nastiness or bullying of teens to a responsible adult?

[3boysandabump]

How do u set up a teens account to be as safe as possible?

I would also like to know this

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

Gambling has 'bet responsibly'
Alcohol has 'drink responsibly'

Does Facebook have anything similar that it promotes?

'Use social media responsibly...

[Ribeebie]

How do you keep young people safe on social media? I am aware parents have an overall responsibility but I think Facebook also have an important role. In particular I would like to know how you manage bullying and managing self harm content.

[Montydoo]

do you think you should have a stronger verification process when setting up a facebook account ? - some sort of ID to verify age. I worry too many young children have facebook accounts.

[Summergarden]

I’d like to know what the procedures that Facebook etc follow if they receive complaints that for example, cyber bullying type posts are made involving children. Do these posts get removed swiftly?

[SuzCG]

There's obviously a major flaw with the setting up and verification of accounts - many kids in my son's class (who is only 12) have accounts and have done for quite some time now. I understand that parents have to take ultimate responsibility for their child but surely Facebook have some sort of corporate responsibility here too? How would you expect a new parent to have confidence in your system and policies if it can be breached here, at the very first hurdle?

[GetKnitted]

Is it healthy to see only posts which agree with our way of thinking? How do algorithmicly selected stories interfere with our ability to understand and sympathise with people who don't think like us?

[TheGirlWithGlassFeet]

I don't really know how Facebook works having not used it but I have young children. Do you have an easy guide to understanding Facebook and a specific guide for children's accounts and how to keep them safe?

[Bumblebeans]

I have concerns that face book can become an echo chamber due to the algorithms. Should Facebook have more responsibility to with regard to the sharing of content?

[sarat1]

How do you ensure that children are old enough to have a Facebook account?

[ItsHardToExplain]

There are celebrities that are bullied/trolled a lot. Constance Hall is one of them. Katie Price and her young disabled son too - what can you do to prevent or stop this?

[kateandme]

how are you helping people be brave enough to talk about online safety and content.
what support and help and info are you given to help safety and those conversations becomes normal or safe to do.

[pinotgrigio]

Is there a safe way to use Facebook?

Without wanting to look like I'm shooting fish in a barrel:

29 million people had their data stolen (reported in September), with enough data compromised to put them at risk of identity theft and was also enough to compromise accounts that users use their facebook credentials to access.

Furthermore, if you understood enough about security to implement 2FA (two factor authentication, whereby you use an extra step beyond using a password to login, such as a code being sent to your phone), Facebook would then use that phone number to target you for ads. What a betrayal!

Also the privacy issues - what about the 7 million people affected by a bug that let developers see photos that were uploaded but not posted? The Cambridge Analytica scandal (50 million users affected by targeted political advertising via the improper use of their personal data), the harvesting of private text messages, giving developers access to users data, the 14 million private posts that were exposed by a bug, - none of which people knowingly consent to.

[HowardTJMoon]

Facebook has had a long and inglorious track history of pillaging its users' data and browsing habits to make even more money and then being, shall we say, "economical with the truth" when found out. Eg, lying about how many people under 18 it was collecting huge amounts of data from [[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/01/facebook_teentracking_app/]]

Facebook also has a proven track record of selling its users' data to anyone and everyone as well as being the victim of multiple huge data breaches.

With that background in mind and with online privacy being so important, my question is this - why should we trust Facebook with our children's photos and private information at all? How can we trust Facebook in the future when it's been demonstrably and repeatedly untrustworthy in the past?

[PickledChicory]

How do you stop underage users using facebook? Are there ways to find out their actual age and ban those too young?

[TellMeItsNotTrue]

Is there a way of ensuring people are of minimum age before joining, because I think so many children are joining before 13 without their parents knowing and this can then lead to a number of situations there shouldn't be. I also wonder whether 13 is the right age considering some of the stuff shared by very basic and normal pages, maybe raising it to 15 would lead to the age that people actually attempt to join would also go higher?

[GooodMythicalMorning]

Regarding safety do you feel 13 is sufficiently old enough to be using facebook in a safe and secure way. I feel 13 is still quite young and naive and we could possibly find useful some sort of way of having parental control for fb for 13 year olds to make sure some of the older content isnt available to them.

[LateMumma]

Is it safe to search for someone you want to observe, or is that going to cause your profile to flash up as 'someone you may know' to them? There are obvious child protection issues in this for the fostering and adoption community.
Are there plans to simplify the safeguarding options for young people and adults using Facebook?

[Popcornandbuttons]

How are you promoting internet safety to users? I've been using Facebook for years and I can't remember ever seeing anything on this. Where do you find relevant info?
Also how do you manage bullying online? What advice do you have for parents?