Important E-safety Information - Protect your child online
The text below was taken from an email that has been circulated to all schools, from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP.) We feel it is important to share this information with parents in order to raise the profile of this important issue.
As you may have seen in the press recently, Facebook and the CEOP Centre have joined forces to make young people safer online by launching the new ‘ClickCEOP’ application. Launched on 12 July, all young users of Facebook – and their parents – are invited to add the new ClickCEOP ‘app’ to their profile. Through this app, they will be able to access advice, help and support from the CEOP Centre. Crucially, young people will be able to report instances of suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour directly from their profile to specially trained investigators.
The ‘app’ is the outcome of collaboration between CEOP and Facebook who have combined Facebook’s expertise in connecting and communicating online with CEOP’s expertise in helping young people stay safe.
Once added to their profiles, young users will receive regular messages from CEOP and its partner organisations who operate ‘behind the button’ to make children safer. CEOP’s new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/clickceop) will also contain polls, news alerts and status updates. The page will look at topics that teenagers care about, such as celebrities, music and exams and will link these subjects to questions about online safe.
Users can either add or bookmark the ‘app’ so it appears on their profile, as not only a constant source of help and reassurance for them but also as a strong visual signal to their friends, family and others that they are in control online.
The move is also being supported by an advertising campaign on Facebook that will encourage take up. This will include an automatic advert appearing on every profile of users aged between 13-18 years inviting them to add the app.
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said:
“Today represents a huge step forward. By adding this app, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button and this should provide reassurance for the many parents whose teenage children use Facebook. “We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online. We urge all Facebook users not only to add the app, but also to bookmark it so that others can see that they’re in control online. Our dialogue with Facebook about adopting the ClickCEOP button is well documented – this is a good day for child protection.”
ClickCEOP in Facebook…
If you would like to support CEOP and Facebook’s initiative, please feel free to use any of the following updates for your Facebook or Twitter accounts or website.
(Your organisation /fan group) ...is / are supporting the ClickCEOP app on Facebook – if you are interested in keeping young people safe online, add the app
