Facebook recently has made headlines for the ways in which it is calling attention to the challenges of online safety, particularly with respect to social networks. On Monday, Facebook launched a Safety Advisory Council -- one of a number of ways the social networking site is trying to batten down the hatches and provide a safer online environment.

- Facebook's Safety Advisory Board comprises five leading Internet safety organizations from North America and Europe that will advise Facebook on online safety policy. The members of the Safety Advisory Board are Childnet International, The Family Online Safety Institute, Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely and WiredSafety. One of the council's first projects will be to overhaul the safety information at Facebook's Help Center with the goal of providing more comprehensive resources and including content that's specifically tailored to the needs of parents, teachers and teens.

- Facebook is active in MTV's A Thin Line campaign, aimed at helping teenagers stop the spread of digital abuse. MTV's A Thin Line campaign debuted this month and urges Internet users, especially young people, to "draw the line" line between digital use and digital abuse.

 

 

- Earlier this month, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that Facebook was successfully using the state's new Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) to help make the Internet safer. In a news release, Cuomo said 3,500 registered New York state sex offenders have been purged from social networking sites Facebook and MySpace in the first database sweep since e-STOP went into effect.