Facebook went straight to the police after being accused of failing to eliminate "sexualized" images of children on its social network platform, according to a report on Business Insider. A BBC investigation found that Facebook moderators are not prompt at addressing reported photos, which points to some control issues within the platform.
BBC reported several "sexualized" images of children that it found on Facebook's platform as they violate several federal laws. However, Facebook moderators only took down 18 images of the 100 photos reported by the news agency.
Results of the investigation of the news agency show that several people are using the social network platform to share photos of children in "highly sexualized poses" that are photos of real children. The news agency reported 100 photos and received automated replies for 82 of them.
The automated replies state that the photos, which allegedly show "sexualized" children, do not violate Facebook's community guidelines. BBC reached out to Facebook for an interview, but the social media company's U.K. policy boss, Simon Milner, backed out at the last minute.
Facebook wanted to see copies of the reported images prior to the interview. After reviewing the photos, the social media company decided to cancel the scheduled interview.
Facebook said it in a statement that it took down all the photos that BBC reported. In addition, the social media company reported the images to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center and informed regulators that the photos were found on its platform.
BBC has been reported by Facebook to the authorities for distributing the images. Damian Collins, chairman of the Commons media committee, expressed dismay at Facebook's move, saying that the news agency was just trying to help the social media platform.
Jobs & Hire previously reported that Facebook was trying to improve its suicide prevention and mental health support tools.
