Meta has failed to stop a vast network of people using its platform to promote child abuse content. wall street journal cited numerous disturbing examples of child exploitation that have come to light on Facebook and Instagram. The report comes as Meta faces fresh pressure over its handling of child safety and has come under fresh scrutiny from European Union regulators.
In the report: wall street journal In-depth testing conducted in conjunction with the Canadian Center for Child Protection shows how Meta’s recommendations can suggest Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags, and other accounts used to promote and share child exploitation content. Masu. Their tests showed that Meta was slow to respond to reports about such content, and its proprietary algorithms often made it easier for people to connect with abusive content and people interested in it.
For example, the Canadian Center for Child Protection told the paper: “A network of Instagram accounts, each with as many as 10 million followers, continued to livestream videos of child sexual abuse months after they were reported to the company.” said. Meta initially refused to take action on user reports about a public Facebook group called Incest. This group was eventually deleted along with other similar communities.
In a lengthy statement on its website, Meta says that “predators are determined criminals who test the defenses of apps, websites, and platforms,” and that it has tightened many of its internal systems to restrict “potentially suspicious adults.” He said it had improved. The company is “expanding our existing list of terms, phrases, and emojis related to child safety for our systems to search,” adding new search terms that could be exploited by child predators. He said he employed machine learning to make the discovery.
The company said it uses technology to identify “potentially suspicious adults” to prevent adults from connecting with each other in Facebook groups and seeing each other’s content through recommendations.Meta also said wall street journal “We have begun disabling individual accounts whose suspicious behavior scores exceed a certain threshold.”
The social network has faced growing backlash over its handling of child safety. wall street journal It also recently reported that Instagram is offering content targeted at people who “may have a sexual interest in children.” Meta recently came under fire in dozens of states for harming the mental health of its youngest users and failing to keep young children away from the app. Mark Zuckerberg is sure to face intense questions about these allegations when he appears at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on the safety of children online. Representatives from TikTok, Snap, X, and Discord are also scheduled to testify.
Meanwhile, Meta is also facing new pressure from overseas regulators. European Union authorities are applying new laws to the company’s handling of child abuse material. journal’s report. The company has until Dec. 22 to submit data to the block.