ABOUT 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from social networking website MySpace, the company and senior US legal figures have reported.
The number was nearly double the MySpace original estimate last year, said North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper, who with Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, has led efforts to make social networking websites safer for young users.
Mr Cooper said he was not surprised by the numbers and demanded that MySpace and rival networking site Facebook – which claim to have more than 280 million users combined – do more to protect children and teenagers.
“These sites were created for young people to communicate with each other. Predators are going to troll in these areas . . .,” he said. “That’s why these social networking sites have the responsibility to make their sites safe for children.”
The attorneys general received agreements last year from MySpace and Facebook to push towards making their sites safer. Both sites implemented dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify users’ ages, banning convicted sex offenders and limiting the ability of older users to search members under 18.
Mr Blumenthal, who received MySpace’s updated numbers through a subpoena, said the data provided “compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators”. – (AP)