Facebook news: The beating of 12-year-old boy by a group of classmates at a Southern California middle school may be linked to a Facebook posting encouraging kids to target redheads.

The redheaded boy was beaten up by a group of seventh and eighth graders at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas in two separate incidents Friday, according to a statement released Sunday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

A Facebook page stating that Friday was “Kick a Ginger Day,” referring to redheads and possibly inspired by an episode of the “South Park” series, may have sparked the injuries at the middle school, authorities said.

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The world’s biggest social networking site has brushed off criticism by a senior UK police officer responsible for preventing online bullying that it is failing to combat abuse.

Jim Gamble, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Center, said Facebook and MySpace, which between them have more than 500 million users, could work harder to stamp out bullying.

The initiative came as UK charity Beatbullying highlighted Bebo, owned by AOL, and Microsoft’s instant messaging service as hotspots for bullying.

In a poll of 2,094 young people across England conducted by the charity, 30 percent of 11 to 16-year-olds who had been “cyberbullied” had been targeted on Bebo.

Earlier this year 18-year-old Keeley Houghton became the first person in Britain to be jailed for Internet bullying.

Houghton spent six weeks in the young offenders’ wing of Eastwood Park prison in Gloucestershire, western England, after posting a threatening message about a girl on her own Facebook profile.

Part of the message read: “Keeley is going to murder the bitch,” according to the Press Association.

In response to fears that online bullying is on the rise, Gamble praised an initiative adopted by Bebo, whereby children who fear they are at risk can press a panic button. This allows users to report online abuse, bullying and illegal activity.

But Facebook said Wednesday it believed adopting the button would have no effect on reducing abuse and it had a number of measures in place already on bullying.

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