Facebook removes 'hate' page for teen

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. (WOOD) - Facebook has removed a "hate" page attacking a 13-year-old Comstock Park middle school student.

The page was labeled "I Hate...," using the girl's full name. It used pictures from the girl's own Facebook page and sexually explicit language to describe her. It listed the girl's hometown and invited comments.

The girl's mother and her school, Mill Creek Middle, tried for days to get Facebook to remove the page. As of Friday, the page was still posted.

Facebook responded this week. Now, users who click on the site from Google will be directed to the Facebook home page only.

Facebook responded to WOOD TV8 by e-mail with its policy on cyber bullying:

"The safety of our users is extremely important to us, and we have strict policies that prohibit the posting of content that bullies or harasses. Facebook is based on a real name culture, where people must associate their actions with their true names and identities in front of their real world friends and family.

We maintain a robust reporting infrastructure that leverages Facebook's 400 million users to keep an eye out for offensive or potentially dangerous content. This reporting infrastructure includes report links on pages across the Facebook site, systems to prioritize the most serious reports, and a trained team of reviewers who respond to reports and escalate them to law enforcement as needed. This team treats reports of harassing
messages and impostor profiles as a priority, as well as reports for groups and Pages where "Targets me or a friend" is chosen as the reporting reason. We also prioritize serious reports submitted through the contact forms in our Help Center.

Facebook regularly participates in educational campaigns around bullying with organizations like MTV and the BBC, and Facebook was a founding member of the Stop Cyberbullying Coalition convened by WiredSafety. In fact, we recently launched a completely redesigned Safety Center with help from our Safety Advisory Board that includes extensive information about bullying. You can read more about it here. We provide a number of tips for teens to prevent or address bullying in the FAQ here.

While only a small percentage of people will ever experience bullying on Facebook, we're concerned about any abusive behavior, and have made these efforts to promote an environment where everyone on Facebook can connect and share comfortably. We encourage those who notice bullying to immediately report it to us, and to discuss with parents, teachers, and others in the community who can help."