An image Facebook initially said did not breach standards appeared to be a still from a child abuse video, the BBC says [Image: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty].

The incident in which the BBC was reported to the police for pointing out that images that appeared to show child sex abuse were being distributed on the site amounts to protection of the abusers.

It is a wonder Facebook itself has not faced prosecution. It should.

And in the background, the moderation system itself remains as unreliable as it ever was – because Facebook wants to keep it that way.

Can anybody suggest an effective solution?

“Grave doubts” have emerged about the effectiveness of Facebook’s moderation system after an investigation revealed the social network was failing to remove sexualised images of children even after they were reported.

Damian Collins, chair of the culture, media and sport committee, made the comments as he criticised Facebook’s handling of the images, dozens of which were reported to the company by the BBC and fewer than 20% were removed.

After the BBC sent evidence of the photos to Facebook, the social media company reported the BBC to the police for distributing the images, which had been shared on private Facebook groups intended for paedophiles.

“I find it very disturbing. I find that content unacceptable,” Collins said. “I think it raises the question of how can users make effective complaints to Facebook about content that is disturbing, shouldn’t be on the site, and have confidence that that will be acted upon.”

Collins said the decision of Facebook to report the BBC to the police was “extraordinary – because you’re trying to help them clean up their network, from material that shouldn’t be there”.

Source: Facebook’s response over sexualised child images is ‘extraordinary’ | Technology | The Guardian

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