The Web site has agreed to new safeguards aimed at protecting children from sexual predators and cyberbullies.

 

There are an estimated 70 million Facebook users, and the site is very popular among younger users because it started out as a closed network for high school and college campuses.

 

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper says that made Facebook a magnet for predators when it opened up to users of all ages a few years ago.

 

“If you are an adult with bad intentions and you go on these sites and you try to collect information about children, unfortunately you can do it very easily,” Cooper said.

 

Automatic warnings will be added for underage users about displaying personal information.

 

Facebook has also agreed to display safety tips to users more prominently.

 

And, it will aggressively remove inappropriate groups or users from the site.

 

A statement released by Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly said: "Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from the outset."

 

Roy Cooper said the agreement will help protect children, but he says they are also working with Facebook to install tools that help verify the real identities of their users.

 

“They've told me that they don't want an anonymous situation, they don't want people coming on our site who are anonymous, they want to know who people are, that's part of what their site is about,” Cooper said.

 

He said identity verification would help separate adults from children online.

 

The agreement announced Thursday is being supported by Roy Cooper and 47 of his fellow Attorneys General, as well as officials from the District of Columbia.

 

The only State Justice Department not to support the agreement is Texas.

 

They want a speedier adoption of identity verification tools for Facebook and similar sites.