Ask.fm relocates to Ireland, improves safety

Ask. fm, the social networking site beloved of teenagers who post anonymous questions and answers, is moving from Latvia to Ireland.

US media billionaire Barry Diller's IAC Group acquired the company through its vehicle Ask.com in August for an undisclosed sum. On Monday, the company said Ask.fm would be joining Ask.com's existing headquarters in Dublin.

Ask.fm, founded by Ilja and Mark Terebin in 2010, has 180m monthly users and is popular with teenagers. But the site has been heavily criticised, including by Britishprime minister David Cameron, for not doing more to prevent cyber bullying after it was linked with teenage suicides in Britain and elsewhere.

Doug Leeds, chief executive, said that Ask.fm had also updated its policies and terms of service:

“ In an effort to provide new and enhanced information to our users in important areas, such as how to block and report users or problematic content, how to disable the anonymous feature or block anonymous questions, and to provide more explanation of our safety controls and website rules,” he said.

“There will be no changes to the fundamental aspects of the service such as charging for it or removing the ability to ask questions anonymously. Rather, these changes are designed to empower our user base with more information about how to control their experience on Ask.fm.”

The company is also appointing a “law enforcement affairs officer” based in Ireland, which it said would “materially improve the safety of the site”.

Financial Times