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Anger as BBC sets up a rival to Facebook... for six-year-olds
Last updated at 17:37pm on 25.01.08
MyCBBC is being launched at a time when up to 1,800 staff are being axed
The new site will be aimed at children too young for Facebook
The BBC is setting up a Facebook-style social networking site for children as young as six.
The MyCBBC service is aimed at those who are too young for Facebook and other commercial rivals such as MySpace and Bebo.
These sites have a lower age limit of 13, but the BBC's site will target six to 12-year-olds.
Critics yesterday accused the corporation of empire building and going beyond its remit with the plans.
They claim the commercial market is already providing a similar service and say the publicly-funded BBC should concentrate on making programmes.
MyCBBC, which starts in April and is costing £200,000 to develop, will be piloted among 1,000 children next month.
It will accessible via the BBC homepage and users will be able to design online "dens" to reflect their personality and interests.
The BBC says children using the site will be completely protected against Internet predators.
Youngsters will be able to send messages from a palette of predetermined symbols and phrases, but they will not be able to make unscripted contact with strangers on the site.
This is to stop children revealing personal details and leaving them vulnerable to paedophiles using the internet to groom victims.
A BBC spokesman said no e-mail addresses would be exchanged between users and only those registered on the children's BBC website could communicate with each other.
However, Conservative MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, said: "This has got nothing to do with the BBC. They should stick with what they are supposed to be doing.
"They are always saying they have not got any money, but it seems like they have got too much, as they are always thrashing around for something new to do with it."
Tory MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the select committee, said: "This is a long way from the BBC's core purposes."
Others have questioned how the BBC can be sure children will be protected against Internet predators.
MyCBBC is being launched at a time when up to 1,800 staff are facing the axe because the BBC received a lower-thanexpected licence fee settlement.
Critics said the £200,000 could have been spent saving jobs. Commercial networking sites for children exist such as the Disney-owned Club Penguin.
However, Marc Goodchild, the BBC executive overseeing the project, told industry magazine Broadcast: "There is a commercialmarket failing because they don't want to take on the responsibility for younger users. The only player which can do this has to be a public service broadcaster.
"This is about trying to develop their Internet skills and social networking in a safe, protected environment. It's about media literacy. We can use it to make children aware of the risks and dangers of the wider web, which is unregulated."
A BBC spokesman played down the comparisons with Facebook, claiming its site was designed to encourage users to talk about BBC shows.
He said that once the site had been set up, running costs would be minimal, but did not know what these would be.
Reader views (3)
With kids supposedly becoming more obsese, unfit and lazy why try and encourage them even more. I also don't understand why a child as young a 6 would need to go onto or need a social networking site or skills. This is akin to people giving kids that age mobile phones, when I see little kids with mobiles and using them I often wonder who on earth they are talking to.
- Peter Sparkling, London, UK
The BBC is full of left wing loonies who do not think things through.
What were they thinking this time?
You have to despair that our National Broadcaster is in the hands of idiots like this!
- Tangomike, Kensington, London
It is impossible to protect against those that prey on children. The BBC should reconsider this foolish move.
- K. Tyson, Mobile, AL USA
