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Facebook, Attorneys General Start Online Safety Initiative

The National Association of Attorneys General and Facebook teamed up to provide teens and their parents best practices for navigating today’s social media waters.

Teenagers and parents will have new tools at their disposal to manage their privacy and visibility both on Facebook and the internet, thanks to the National Association of Attorneys General and Facebook.

We hope this campaign will encourage consumers to closely manage their privacy and these tools and tips will help provide a safer online experience.

NAAG and the social media site are debuting a new consumer education program that will answer questions about privacy, bullying prevention, and overall online safety. The educational materials will be accessible on Facebook and on participating attorneys general Facebook pages and office websites.

“We hope this campaign will encourage consumers to closely manage their privacy and these tools and tips will help provide a safer online experience,” said NAAG President and Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler during his Presidential Initiative Summit on “Privacy in the Digital Age” in National Harbor, Maryland, this week. “Of course, attorneys general will continue to actively protect consumers’ online privacy as well.”

State-specific public service announcements with 19 attorneys general and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will be distributed by Tuesday.

“Five years ago it was MySpace. The attorneys general got involved with MySpace and we addressed the sexual predator issues on the site,” Gansler said in an ABC News report. “While there is some movement [away from Facebook] into other places, and we are aware of that, we are going to make sure we are involved in those as well. We will move along with the trends towards the next thing in a regulatory capacity.”

Sandberg said in a statement that the two groups were working together “ensure that young people make safe, smart, and responsible choices online.”

(photo by Coletivo Mambembe/Flickr)

Daniel Ford

By Daniel Ford

Daniel Ford is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE

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