SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -- A U.S. social networking website, where millions of teenagers worldwide bare details of their lives, announced it was building new barriers to child predators.

Beginning next week, MySpace will bar members over 18 years of age from connecting with those 16 or younger unless they know the full names and e-mail addresses of the children, the company said.

MySpace members will be able to make information on their web pages accessible only to friends in private networks and allow only members in their age groups to contact them on the site.

Critics countered that the safeguards would be undermined by the fact that there was no mechanism to check the ages of those creating MySpace profiles, meaning nefarious adults could simply pretend to be younger.

MySpace requires members to be at least 14 years old, and revokes memberships if it is obvious from the content of postings that a child has lied about being old enough, according to the company.

Age verification is "an Internet issue bigger than MySpace" because a reliable way to verify age online has yet to be found, according to the company.

The key to keeping children safe online was for parents to stay involved with their offsprings' Internet adventures as well as their real-world activities, the company maintained.

The popularity of Los Angeles-based MySpace has exploded since it was launched online in January of 2004.

It became a popular place for teenagers to share journals, photographs, poems, dreams and intimate details of their lives online.

As of Wednesday, the website reported having more than 87 million members worldwide and claimed to be growing at a rate of more than 250,000 users daily.

MySpace ranked only behind Internet titan Yahoo in the United States in the number of online pages viewed and was the sixth most popular online search engine, according to industry trackers.

Most MySpace users were in English-speaking territories, but the company said it intended to launch "international MySpaces" in different languages.

Incidents in which suspected pedophiles apparently used MySpace as a hunting ground have prompted attacks by child advocates and a recently filed multi-million-dollar lawsuit.

Former U.S. federal prosecutor and Microsoft executive Hemanshu Nigam was hired in April as chief security officer at MySpace and the announced changes were part of an "ongoing journey to online safety," the company said.

"With social networking becoming a mainstream platform for millions of people to connect with one another and express themselves, MySpace is committed to innovating new product features to heighten online safety, particularly in the area of 14 to 15 year olds," Nigam said in a release. "In addition to technology innovation, MySpace remains dedicated to a multi-pronged approach that also involves education and collaboration with law enforcement, teachers, parents and members."

Nigam was to take part in panel discussions being hosted in Washington on Thursday by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The focus of the gathering was to be the popularity and misuse of social networking websites and the potential dangers to children.

"We know that children can benefit greatly from being online," NCMEC President Ernie Allen said in a release. "We commend MySpace for adding new safety and security features that will help provide protection to their youngest members, so they can have a safer online experience."

Among the measures to be enacted next week was a modification intended to make sure advertisements that pop up on pages were appropriate for the members' ages, according to MySpace.

MySpace was bought last year by News Corp and is a unit of Fox Interactive Media in Los Angeles.