Facebook this week said that it removes about 20,000 profiles from the site per day for various infractions, including users who are underage.
Facebook chief privacy advisor Mozelle Thompson appeared before the Australian Parliament's cyber-safety committee on Monday to discuss Internet-related security issues. Representatives from Microsoft and Yahoo were also on the panel.
Thompson's appearance made headlines when he was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying that Facebook "removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage."
In a statement, Facebook said those 20,000 removals cover a variety of policy violations, including spam, inappropriate content, and underage use. Facebook users must be at least 13 years old.
"At Facebook, we take safety very seriously and we were pleased to participate in a hearing in Australia to talk about our safety policies, practices and systems," the company said. "As we explained in the hearing, these efforts include removing numerous accounts everyday for activities including spamming, posting inappropriate content, and violating age restrictions."
The 20,000 number does "not include the proactive efforts that actually prevent fake or under age accounts from being created," Facebook said.
Facebook's Thompson told the committee that the social-networking site would soon hire an Australia-based employee to deal with policy issues, the Telegraph said. Facebook currently has about a dozen staffers in Sydney handling advertising.