A man was sent to prison after he did the unthinkable: He pretended to be a teenager, lured a young girl into becoming friends with him, and then raped and murdered her. Peter Chapman, a chronic sex offender, was sentenced to 35 years. Some are wondering if Facebook bears any blame for what happened to young Ashleigh Hall, the 17-year-old who was killed by Chapman.

This wasn't the only murder to occur on Facebook over the years. There have been more. There have also been a string of stalkings, harassment, fights and other altercations after some unfortunate chatting on the network. You probably know someone who got into a heated fight on Facebook or was stalked/harassed by someone using the system. I personally recall a friend going through a painful divorce while her husband wrote a series of disrespectful messages about her to his female Facebook friends. I consider Facebook to be a great way to stay in touch with people, but I am very careful about what I say or portray on my page (you are invited to be my Facebook friend if you want, but if you try to stalk me, we're through).

Some believe that Facebook, the company that earns hundreds of millions in ad revenue, should be responsible for what happens on its network. What was most deceptive and disturbing about the Ashleigh Hall killing is that she was lured by Peter's photo, in which he presented himself as a handsome teenager, when the reality was that he was an unattractive, anti-social 33-year-old living in his car. He lured her into the vehicle by texting and saying that his father was going to pick her up. That's when the attack occurred. If someone presents an image that isn't their own, should the network be held liable for such deception?


Some would argue that Facebook should be as liable for what its members do as the phone company is for what phone callers do to one another. It's hard to imagine that a network with 400 million users could ever find a way to control the behavior of every single person online. At the same time, people tend to seek out the biggest pockets when looking for someone to sue, so it is not inconceivable that there are attorneys out there trying to find some way to hold Facebook accountable for people who are harmed on the network.

Here are some comments from Black Voices readers about whether Facebook should be held liable for activity on its platform:

Allison Monyei (recent law school graduate out of Georgia): "I don't think so. Facebook is merely the medium that facilitates communication. That would be like holding the phone company liable for the same thing."

Byron Price (professor at Texas Southern University): "This is really a tough one. How do you establish liability?"

Christopher Metzler (attorney and professor at Georgetown University): "The short answer is no. Users assume liability. When someone meets another at a bar and is raped or killed, the bar bears no responsibility for that interaction. The patron assumes the risk."

Elliot Millner (law school graduate out of Washington, D.C.): "It would be an absurd policy to hold any social networking site or other medium of communication liable for the actions of of those who choose to use it."

Dr. Darryl Corey (professor at Kennesaw State University): "No, I don't think FB is liable. People who use FB need to with the same care as they do in everyday life."

So, I guess it's nearly unanimous -- all of our panel believes that Facebook shouldn't be held responsible.

In my own experience, I have been presented with deception on Facebook. Perhaps because I have a public profile, I once had a case in which a beautiful woman attempted to lure me in with seductive messages. I didn't respond to the woman, and it turned out that the woman was actually a man attempting to befriend men online by using a false picture of an attractive woman. So, I presume this kind of thing happens regularly. I also recall watching a few people get into fights on my page to the point where I wondered whose butt was going to get kicked first. But I can't imagine how Facebook would be responsible for people who want to beat each other down.

Facebook has a list of safety tips you may want to take a look at if you are already online. Personally, my tips are simple:

1) If you don't want something blasted on CNN, don't put it on your Facebook page.
2) Remember that those pictures of you can be downloaded and sent to your boss, even by your so-called "friends." Can you really trust 200 people that much?
3) If you set up a physical meeting with someone you know on Facebook, take a friend with you for protection.
4) Do Google searches and verify information of anyone you get to know well on Facebook.
5) Don't assume that a friend of a friend really is a friend.
6) Take your time getting to know people.
7) Remember that knowing someone on Facebook doesn't really mean you know them.
8) If someone seems creepy, unfriend them and/or alert the authorities if you are the victim of harassment.

Let's not even bother imagining a world where we can forbid our kids from using Facebook, because it's definitely not going to happen. But we must remember that in the bold new age of the Internet, the whole meaning of the word "friendship" has changed dramatically.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.