Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

September 25, 2007

Facebook Sex Sting: Will Microsoft, Yahoo, Google Buy Into Scandal?

Will Mark Zuckerberg really soon have his own multi-billion dollar ticket to Web glory, thanks to Microsoft and/or Yahoo and/or Google?

What is more certain is that he is staring down a legal ticket from the New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo:

Cuomo warned the company that a preliminary review conducted by his office revealed significant defects in the site’s safety controls and the company’s response to complaints - deficiencies that stand in contrast to the reassuring statements made on the website and by company officials.

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. Even more disturbingly, Facebook often did not respond, and at other times was slow to respond, to complaints lodged by the investigators - posing 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. “Parents have a right to know what their children will encounter on a website that is aggressively marketed as safe.”

FACEBOOK’S AGRESSIVE MARKETING OF ITSELF TO MICROSOFT, YAHOO, GOOGLE IS AT RISK.

Read Why Google MUST Buy Facebook: Universal Search Envy: I analyze how Google is decrying that the “lots and lots” of content and Web pages that millions of Facebookers are generating is NOT within Google’s search grasp, yet.

ALSO: NBC, Sling, EchoStar: Television and DVRs, OMMA Report and OMMA Advertising Cat Fight? Google’s Media Chief Gets Defensive 

PLUS: Yellow Pages Trash Talking: The SEO Dog in the Google Local Fight

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

Filed under: Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft
Written by: Donna Bogatin @ 8:41 am

 

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