Activities :: Social Networking Sites :: Safer social networking
Implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU
In September 2011 the European Commission published the second batch of the findings of a second independent assessment of the implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU. This includes results of tests on 9 social networking sites. The first batch, including results of tests on 14 sites was published in June 2011.
Download the report and see how each signatory has implemented the Principles:
Results published in September 2011
Part I - Summary report and annex
Part II - Individual assessment reports
Read the Commission press release
Results published in June 2011
Part I - Summary report
Part II - Individual assessment reports
Read the Commission press release
How have the sites been tested?
The Commission hired a team of 14 national researchers led by a coordinator, all of them with background experience in the field of youngsters' usage/knowledge of Internet/new technologies.
The coordinator has first analyzed the self-declarations submitted by all the signatories to explain their individual safety policies. The coordinator designed a standard questionnaire which was used as basis for the testing of the sites. Researchers tested the sites in their main language (for example: Tuenti was tested by a Spanish-speaking researcher, Rate was tested by an Estonian-speaking researcher, etc). Facebook was tested in English and in French. Netlog was tested in German and in Dutch. MySpace was tested in English and in Spanish. Habbo Hotel was tested in English and Finnish.
According to the questionnaires, the researchers had to surf the websites and then register as minors 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?
In the period March - June 2011, 9 sites run by 7 of the signatories have been tested and results were published in September 2011: Dailymotion, Flickr, Habbo Hotel, Stardoll, Skyrock, Windows Live, Yahoo Pulse, YouTube and Xbox Live.
In the period December 2010 - January 2011 14 websites run by 14 of the signatories have been tested and results were published in June 2011: Arto, Bebo, Facebook, Giovani.it, Hyves, MySpace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Ratee , SchulerVZ, IRC Galleria (Sulake), Tuenti and Zap.lu
Overall report
The coordinator of the research has drafted an overall report summarizing the findings of the assessment.
Reports published in September 2011
Download the first part of the Report on the assessment of the "Report of the implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU on 9 websites"
Download the second part of the "Report on the assessment of the implementation of the Safer Social Networking principles for the EU on 9 websites"
Reports published in June 2011
These are the results of the second assessment conducted on behalf of the Commission to evaluate the implementation of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU by the signatories. You can also read the results of the first assessment conducted in 2010.
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, as well as the companies' response to the assessment.
| Signatories and self-declarations | Self-declarations | Assessment reports in English | Assessment reports translated | Companies' responses |
|
Results published in September 2011 |
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| Dailymotion |
|
 |
(FR) |
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| Flickr (Yahoo!) |
|
|
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| Habbo Hotel (Sulake) |
|
|
(FI) |
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| Stardoll |
|
|
|
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| Skyrock |
|
|
(FR) |
|
| Windows Live (Microsoft Europe) |
|
|
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| Yahoo! Pulse |
|
|
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| YouTube (Goolge) |
|
|
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| Xbox Live (Microsoft Europe) |
|
|
||
|
Results published in June 2011 |
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| Arto |
|
|
(DK) |
|
| Bebo |
|
|
||
|
|
|
(FR) |
||
| Giovani.it |
|
|
(IT) |
|
| Hyves.nl |
|
|
(NL) |
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| MySpace |
|
|
(ES) |
|
| nasza-klasa.pl |
|
|
(PL) |
|
| Netlog |
|
|
(NL)
(DE) |
|
| One.lt |
|
|
(LT) |
|
| Rate.ee |
|
|
(EE) |
|
| SchulerVZ |
|
|
(DE) |
|
| IRC Galleria |
|
|
(FI) |
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| Tuenti |
(EN)
|
|
(ES) |
|
| Zap.lu |
|
|
(DE) |
|
See a short description of the companies supporting the Principles