A panic button application on Facebook in the U.K. has led to a surge in the number of abuse reports on the website, Sky News reported Thursday.
More than 200 users have clicked on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) link to report suspicious behavior since it was introduced in the U.K. on July 12, figures show.
The ClickCeop button appears on a user’s homepage after they install the application, which has been downloaded 55,000 times.
In the month before its launch, only 28 people reported abuse through the social networking site.
Facebook bowed to intense pressure to install the application after the death of teenager Ashleigh Hall in October 2009.
Her killer, Peter Chapman, posed as a teenager on the site and later kidnapped, raped and murdered her.
The website — which recently passed the 500 million users mark worldwide — initially said there was no need for an online abuse reporting system.
But CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble said the response to the button proved it was worthwhile.
“The sheer number 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,” he said.
Joanna Shields, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the application was not a catch-all solution, but agreed it has been a step in the right direction.
“There is no single answer to making the internet safer but CEOP have taken a great step forward by setting up their ClickCeop page,” she said.
“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.”