More youngsters seek help through Click CEOP app

More than 5,000 people have contacted the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre via a Facebook application installed four weeks ago – more than 180 times the number that sought advice prior to its introduction.

CEOP had been struggling to work with Facebook earlier in the year after the social networking site failed to include the ‘Click CEOP’ button used by other sites to allow young users instant access to advice and information regarding inappropriate behaviour online. Discussions since then led to the development of the Click CEOP application, launched on July 12.

The application has now been downloaded over 55,000 times; more than 20,000 people are receiving regular safety updates to their Facebook account and more than 5,000 have used the application to access help, advice or support from CEOP – in the four weeks prior to its introduction, Facebook’s own safety pages had been accessed just 28 times. CEOP has also received 211 reports of concerns about grooming or suspicious online behaviour as a result of the application.

The application – which comes in three parts – ‘adding the app’, ‘sharing the badge’ and ‘bookmarking to app’ – enables the user to access the application, share it with their friends via their newsfeeds and places a visible icon on their profile so that their friends – and others viewing their profile – can see they are protected by CEOP.

Jim Gamble, chief executive of CEOP, said: “The response to this campaign has been excellent so far. The sheer numbers of people who have engaged with the app – including the volume of positive comments received via the wall – has shown that this move has been extremely well received by parents and young people alike.”

Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive officer of the charity Beatbullying, said: “It is promising to see that the app has had such a clear impact within a relatively short space of time. In addition to the impressive download figures, Beatbullying has seen uplift in the amount of young people seeking help from us in dealing with cyber bullying.”

Joanna Shields, Facebook’s vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “There is no single answer to making the Internet safer but CEOP has taken a great step forward by setting up its Click CEOP page. It now means that they can have an ongoing dialogue with thousands of Facebook users, educating them about how to stay safe online in a place and language they are familiar with. I look forward to continuing our successful relationship with CEOP.”