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Club Penguin gives £3m in space to child safety

Charities and experts to help promote messages across Disney media

Club Penguin founder Lane Merrifield has promised £3 million in print, television and online space to promote children's safety online.

"Safety is important to us. Even though we don't have the ability to make the entire internet safe, we do have the ability to educate and empower kids to keep themselves safe," he told the BBC at the Children's Media conference.

"It starts with making sure that the parents are involved, making sure kids understand not to share personal information and to tell someone if they experience something inappropriate."

Club Penguin publisher Disney is hoping to form partnerships with experts in the field and charities to make best use of the £3 million in space across its media portfolio in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Merrifield wouldn't comment on the recent Habbo Hotel Channel 4 expose, which exposed paedophile activity on the site's forums.

Club Penguin is a free-to-play game for 6 to 14 year olds, which already includes an Ultimate Safe Chat, filters and human moderators.

"We don't control who comes on the site but we have a lot of control over what they experience once there," added Merrifield.

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Rachel Weber

Senior Editor

Rachel Weber has been with GamesIndustry since 2011 and specialises in news-writing and investigative journalism. She has more than five years of consumer experience, having previously worked for Future Publishing in the UK.