Activities :: Social Networking Sites :: Safer social networking
Implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU
On 9 February 2010, Safer Internet Day, the European Commission has presented the findings of an independent assessment of the implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU.
Download the overall report and see how each signatory has implemented the Principles
How have the sites been tested?
The Commission hired a team of 2 lead researchers and 13 national researchers with background experience in the field of youngsters' usage/knowledge of Internet/new technologies.
They have first analyzed the self-declarations submitted by all the signatories to explain their individual safety policies. The lead researchers have designed a standard questionnaire which was used as basis for the testing of the sites. Researchers tested all 25 sites in their main language (for example: Tuenti was tested by a Spanish-speaking researcher, Rate was tested by an Estonian-speaking researcher, etc).
According to the questionnaires, the researchers had to surf the websites and then register as an 11 year-old and a 15-year old child and answer questions such as:
- I can find safety tips/information for children
- Is the information targeted to children easy to understand and easy to access?
- I can block a friend/I can decline a contact request
- I am able to delete/remove postings/pictures from my profile
- When signed in to my user profile my personal information is visible only to my friends/to all other users
- When signed in as an adult user and use common search engines to search for my nicknames I am able to find the profiles I have registered as a minor on the site
A report/ request for help was also sent to the sites, and the speed and quality of the answer was analysed.
Which sites have been tested?
25 websites run by the 20 signatories have been tested: Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, YouTube (Google), Hyves, Xbox Live (Microsoft), Windows Live (Microsoft), MySpace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Piczo, Ratee , Skyrock, SchulerVZ (VZnet), StudiVZ (VZnet), meinVZ (VZnet), Habbo Hotel (Sulake), IRC Galleria (Sulake), Tuenti , Yahoo!Answers, Yahoo!Flickr and Zap.lu
Overall report
One questionnaire was completed for each site and a summary report of the findings was written. You can find all these in the table below. The lead researchers have drafted an overall report summarizing the findings of the assessment.
Reports and tests on the implementation of the Principles by signatory
In the table below you will find the self-declarations the signatories submitted to the Commission in order to explain their safety policies, the individual reports summarizing the findings of the tests performed by the researchers, the questionnaire including the detailed results of the testing performed by the experts, as well as the companies' response to the assessment.
| Signatories and self-declarations | Self-declarations | Assessment reports in English | Assessment reports translated | Testing results in English | Companies' responses |
| Arto |
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 (DK) |
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| Bebo |
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| Dailymotion |
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(FR) |
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| Giovani.it |
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(IT) |
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| Google/YouTube |
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| Hyves.nl |
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(NL) |
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| Microsoft Europe |
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(Windows Live)
(Xbox Live) |
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| MySpace |
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| nasza-klasa.pl |
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(PL) |
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| Netlog |
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(NL) |
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| One.lt |
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(LT) |
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| Piczo |
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| Rate.ee |
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(EE) |
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| Skyrock.com |
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(FR) |
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| VZnet Netzwerke (SchulerVZ, StudiVZ, MeinVZ) |
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(DE) |
(schulerVZ)
(StudiVZ)
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| Sulake (Habbo and IRC Galleria) |
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(FI) |
(Habbo)
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| Tuenti |
(EN)
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(ES) |
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(ES)(EN) |
| Yahoo! Europe (Yahoo!Answers |
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(Yahoo!Answers)
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| Zap.lu |
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(DE) |
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See a short description of the companies supporting the Principles