Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, on behalf of Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs Director Mary Clement, signed the agreement with Topix.com to ensure that Tennesseans are not being harmed by cyber-bullying. Topix.com allows consumers to post comments, polls and surveys in local forums to facilitate discussion about news and other matters of local community interest.
According to the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, the forum — like many others — is subject to abuse by users posting false, misleading or inappropriate material. Consumers have complained about the amount of time it took the company to remove offensive or abusive posts on its site.
And some consumers also complained about the company’s “Priority Review” policy, which charged $19.99 to review the posts in a more timely manner. As part of the settlement, all reports of abuse on Topix.com will be reviewed free of charge. The company also will seek to review and remove inappropriate posts within three working days rather than its previous policy of seven to 14 days.
The site also has agreed to make a number of additional technical and human resources improvements in order to better review and block inappropriate posts.
“On behalf of the concerned citizens and public officials who have contacted me about Topix.com, I am pleased that we’ve been able to reach an agreement with the company,” Cooper said.
Clement urged consumers who have complaints about Topix.com or any consumer matter to file a complaint with the Division of Consumer Affairs by calling 1-800-342-8385 or 615-741-4737 or going online to www.tn.gov/consumer/
“Consumer Affairs works to facilitate company responsiveness to customer concerns, be it with brick-and-mortar businesses or online ones,” Clement said.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
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