Facebook offers free advertising to children's charities

Fundraising | Gareth Jones | 21 Apr 2010

Facebook is to offer UK children’s charities millions of pounds of free advertising as it launches a new online safety campaign, but has stopped short of providing a ‘panic button’ on every page.

The social network is promising to invest £5m in “leading safety organisations”, providing one billion advertising impressions over the next two years.

However, there has been some concern that Facebook’s plans fall short of demands for a direct link to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) on every page, the so-called ‘panic button’.

Instead, the link will only appear as part of the process of blocking a user, and will not include Ceop's logo (pictured below). The option to block a user only appears on the profile page of the offending individual.

A spokesman for the NSPCC said that the charity had not yet held discussions with Facebook but said it would not accept the free advertising if it was offered as an alternative to the panic button.

The Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety, which includes Action for Children, Barnardo's, Children's Society and NSPCC, will meet with Facebook on Thursday to discuss the proposals.

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Directory: Action for Children | Barnardo's | Children's Society | National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)

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