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Wake Up Call: Facebook Isn’t A Safe Haven

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Facebook just turned 5 years ancient. But a week that must have been filled with reflection and excellent era was instead marred by a series of breaking news reports detailing sex scandals, phishing, and other malicious activity on the world’s largest social network.

In his blog post announcing the 5-year milestone, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that “Facebook has offered a safe and trusted environment for people to interact online, which has made millions of people comfortable expressing more about themselves.” But is Facebook really as safe as everyone seems to reckon?

It’s Been A Long Week

On Tuesday, February 3rd, we reported that thousands of sex offenders (many of whom were previously booted from MySpace) were lurking on Facebook (they’ve in view of the fact that been removed). As CNET’s Caroline McCarthy pointed out, these might not have necessarily been MySpace ‘refugees’ in the sense that they migrated en masse from MySpace to Facebook – they likely maintain profiles on multiple social networks. But the fact remains that here were thousands of convicted sexual offenders on a social network that is generally perceived as safe.

On Wednesday, news ruined of an elaborate and disturbing sex ring involving at least 31 high school students. An 18 year-ancient man named Anthony Stancl has allegedly been masquerading as high-school girls on Facebook, flirting with underaged male classmates and convincing them to send him nude photographs. He would then use the photographs to blackmail the boys into performing sexual acts with him, which he took pictures of using a cell phone. Stancl has been charged with 12 felony counts and up to 300 years of jail time. (In a somewhat out of the ordinary twist, Facebook responded to news of the sex ring by stating that fewer than 1% of its 150 million users are affected by impersonation schemes. So, around 1.5 million people. Not exactly a confidence-inspiring statistic.)

The same day, Facebook simplified its Terms of Benefit, rewording many of its rules to make them simpler to know and explicitly prohibiting some common transgressions, like including fake information in profiles or making fake financial statement. But here was one far more timely addendum: “If you are required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction, you may not use the Facebook Benefit.” Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt says that sex offenders had previously been banned through a number of other more general statements in the Terms of Benefit, but that the company sought after to make it more explicit.

On Friday, CNN reported on an increasing number of phishing attacks seen on Facebook, using a technique we first heard about in January. After gaining access to compromised financial statement, scammers are now using Facebook to question the victims’ “friends” for cash. The attacks can be particularly effective because the scammers can easily look up personal details of the people they’re contacting.

Finally, Maryland banned both Facebook and MySpace from its General Assembly Computers, as they had been the primary sources of numerous malware attacks (though we must note that the rumored ban of Facebook in Apple stores was overblown).

Had each of these tales broken on their own, they probably would have been met with small more than raised eyebrows. After all, with over 150 million users, it’s inevitable that some terrible things are vacant to take place (and they have before). But taken collectively, it’s clear that Facebook isn’t quite the safe haven we might perceive.

How We Got Here

In view of the fact that launching in 2004, Facebook has benefited from its public perception as a safe, clean site – especially compared to its largest competitor, MySpace. Whereas MySpace allows users to customize their profile pages with graphics and audio (now and again to the point of making them obnoxious), Facebook has maintained a more pristine environment, which certainly helps bestow a feeling of safety.

Facebook is also theoretically more secure. When it first launched, only users with valid university (.edu) Email addresses could sign up. Over the years the site prolonged to allow high school students, and eventually opened up to everyone. But each group of students or coworkers is still segmented into different ‘networks’ – you can’t browse through anyone’s profile except you be in the right place to their university or company network, usually verified through Email. These roadblocks add up to make making fake profiles more of a challenge, but as we’ve seen in the last week, they can be overcome.

Perhaps most vital to note is Facebook’s relatively excellent security record up until this point. Parry Aftab, an independent online security expert who heads WiredSafety, says that here have been fewer sexual predator attacks on Facebook than its competitors and that her studies have found its security measures to exceed those seen elsewhere. She also notes that in general, users have behaved better on Facebook, and that teenagers have reported that they “feel safer” on the site.

But Aftab says that given how promptly Facebook has grown – it jumped from 100 million users last August to over 150 million users today – she isn’t surprised that some registered sex offenders slipped through the cracks. In her words, “if you have 150 million users, you’re vacant to have all kinds of terrible people”.

So what measures can Facebook take to maintain its wholesome image?

What Needs To Change

Last May, Facebook announced that it had forged a deal with Attorneys General from 49 states to implement new safety and privacy rules (MySpace had adopted similar measures a few months earlier). Amongst the new policies were agreements to “aggressively remove inappropriate images and content” and to “more prominently show safety tips”.

At the time we noted that this was probably a tough measure for Facebook to swallow – such initiatives can be very costly in terms of manpower, especially when it comes to moderating content. And frankly it looks like Facebook hasn’t really lived up to its promise. For starters, MySpace has a pair of human eyes looking at every photo uploaded to the site. Facebook doesn’t – instead, it relies on users to flag any content they find inappropriate. Aftab says that this system is effective, but I don’t regard it as “aggressive” – I’d much very hear that Facebook employs a dedicated team to scan through photos, even if only for those shared by minors (or even better, a combination of flagging and human scanning).

This actions of this week, and the sex ring case in particular, will likely be a wakeup call for Facebook, akin to MySpace’s tragic suicide case a few years ago. As it continues its rapid growth, Facebook needs to step up both its technological and manpower efforts to more effectively deter malicious behavior. And Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly, who plans to run for Attorney General of California, can’t afford to let these issues fall to his successor.

But the reality is that no matter what these social networks do, they’ll never have the technology or the manpower to stop every threat. Which is why they need to stop pretending that they’re safe. Facebook’s (and MySpace’s) goal is to connect as many people as possible, and the sad truth is that many people are very naive when it comes to online safety. These social networks need to step up their education and awareness efforts, perhaps even offering a ’safe mode’ for users (even adults) who aren’t adept at navigating the web’s pitfalls. Because sharing is only fun until someone gets hurt.

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