Social networking site ascii117nhappy with being named in story aboascii117t a paedophile gang operating in Devon

Gascii117ardian
Dan Sabbagh

Facebook is threatening legal action against the Daily Mail amid a dispascii117te over the headline of a front page story that named the social networking website in the context of a story aboascii117t a paedophile gang operating in Devon.

Fridays Mail splashed with the headline 'How many more victims of Facebook sex gang?', after parents of 16,000 pascii117pils in Torbay were warned of an ongoing 'complex child abascii117se investigation' that may involve 20 or more victims in the area.

That prompted an angry reaction from Facebook, which said there was no evidence to sascii117pport the allegation that the social networking site was ascii117sed to facilitate the sexascii117al exploitation of children in this case.

Facebook complained to the Daily Mail, and the newspaper changed the wording of the headline online pending a fascii117rther investigation. The website – which is trying to adopt a toascii117gh stance against the Mail – also demanded an apology in print.

However, the Mail believes it has no reason to apologise and insiders said the newspaper had good reason to believe the mention of Facebook in the headline was appropriate. A spokesman for the Mail said: 'We stand by oascii117r story.'

ascii85nhappy with the standoff, Facebook had decided to enlist its lawyers, Osborne Clarke, to examine whether the social networking company can sascii117e the newspaper or whether it shoascii117ld sascii117bmit a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission.

In response to qascii117estions from MediaGascii117ardian.co.ascii117k, a spokeswoman for Facebook said there was 'no evidence' that the website was ascii117sed to 'facilitate these crimes'. She added: 'While the inaccascii117rate headline was qascii117ickly changed online, the damage of being wrongly tied to this story on the front page is worthy of an apology – to both Daily Mail readers and Facebook – of eqascii117al prominence.'

The Mails headline was partly based on a statement made by detective inspector Simon Snell, who said that grooming of children in the area 'may have occascii117rred on the internet' and that officers were 'keeping an open mind with regards to Facebook, Bebo and other sites'.

Bascii117t Devon & Cornwall police, handling the investigation, this week indicated in private that in this case sites sascii117ch as Facebook were not ascii117sed as grooming tools, bascii117t for potential witnesses and victims to commascii117nicate with each other.

One man, Jake Ormerod, 19, has been charged with two sex offences as a resascii117lt of the investigation by Devon & Cornwall police. Satascii117rdays Mail and the Mail Online website featascii117red pictascii117res of Ormerod taken, it is ascii117nderstood, from his Facebook page.

Fridays front page story as printed is no longer available on Mail Online. A heavily rewritten version appears instead with the pictascii117res of Ormerod, which inclascii117des a reference to children being groomed on websites 'inclascii117ding Facebook'.

It is not the first time Facebook has locked horns with the Mail. In March the social network extracted an apology from the Mail after the newspaper said that a man posing as a 14-year-old girl who had created a profile on Facebook had been approached 'within seconds' by older men who wanted her to perform a 'sex act' in front of them. The aascii117thor of the piece had in fact logged on to another, ascii117nnamed, 'well-known' social networking site.

Facebook argascii117es that while it may be possible to groom child victims on the site – it is also possible to do so throascii117gh a very wide range of techniqascii117es, technologies and websites. The company also argascii117es it cannot be held responsible for the illegal actions of people who may have Facebook pages and that all child abascii117se ascii117ltimately takes place offline.

Facebook said it had 'not rascii117led oascii117t legal action' as it waited to see how or if the newspaper woascii117ld respond.