MySpace to Let Parents Block Their Kids From Joining
Representatives from MySpace and the attorneys general of 49 states are announcing a new partnership to fight sexual predators and clean up social networks. — Among the dozens of measures MySpace has agreed to take …
Context & Ripple Effects
This deal closes a year of escalating pressure from state law enforcement. In May 2007 MySpace agreed to hand states data on registered sex offenders using its site after the attorneys general demanded it; today's accord extends that from information-sharing to a formal, multi-state partnership covering dozens of safety measures.
The agreement also lands in a sensitive spot for the product itself: when MySpace imposed restrictions earlier in 2007, some users bristled at the limits, so a parental kill-switch for registration is a bet that regulatory goodwill is worth more than unfettered sign-ups among teens — the core of its audience.
First-order effects
- Parents gain a tool to block their children from creating MySpace accounts at all, shifting the first line of defense from the platform's moderation to household-level control.
- MySpace buys legal and political cover across 49 states at once, preempting the patchwork of individual state demands it faced through 2007.
Second-order effects
- Rival social networks — Facebook chief among them — now face attorney general pressure to match or exceed the same safety commitments or be cast as the laggard on predator protection.
- Age-verification and parental-control tooling becomes a de facto cost of operating a US social network, favoring platforms large enough to absorb the compliance burden.
Third-order effects
- The negotiated compact between one platform and nearly every state sets a template for voluntary industry-safety deals that regulators can later harden into law — the pattern that keeps resurfacing whenever child safety online reaches the legislative agenda.
- Safety-driven controls aimed at minors put platforms serving a young demographic in a structural bind: every restriction added to satisfy states risks pushing the youngest users toward competitors.
The trend: Social networks are moving from reactive cooperation with state law enforcement to formal, negotiated safety compacts that make parental control a baseline feature of the category.