Facebook threatens to sue over Daily Mail article

Facebook is claiming 'irreparable brand damage'

Facebook may sue the Daily Mail over a story published on Wednesday which claimed that 14 year-old girls are likely to be subject to abuse from paedophiles while using the social networking site.

The article was written by a child protection consultant and former police detective, Mark Williams-Thomas, who said that he had posed as a young girl on Facebook and within 90 seconds had been approached by "a middle-aged man" who " wanted to perform a sex act in front of me".

The story remains published online, but has been altered after the Daily Mail admitted that Facebook had not been the social site Williams-Thomas had used.

The article carries the following apology: "In an earlier version of this article, we wrongly stated that the criminologist had conducted an experiment into social networking sites by posing as a 14 year-old girl on Facebook with the result that he quickly attracted sexually motivated messages. In fact he had used a different social networking site for this exercise. We are happy to set the record straight."

A report in The Guardian claims that Williams-Thomas had told editors at the Daily Mail that Facebook was not the social site he had used, but that they still did not change the article.

Facebook has not officially responded to requests for comment, but sources close to the firm said that it is considering legal action because of the " irreparable brand damage" that the story has caused.