Reports came out early this month of a variety of different pages, groups, and images that were reported to Facebook but never removed. According to reports from the BBC, at least 100 different images and other content on the social network were reported, but 82 of them remained up and were found to have not breached the community standards of Facebook.
This is despite the fact that some of the things reported were groups that were set up for pedophiles, and images described by the Children’s Commissioner of England, Anne Longfield, as “They and very sexualized photos of children.”
After BBC pressed the issue and escalated it up, they were finally taken down and sent on to the police.
Any delay in reporting this type of activity, however, makes it more difficult for the police to find those committing the crimes, and potentially allows any children involved to be exposed to continued abuse or other danger.
HOME secretary Amber Rudd is reportedly very upset by the inaction and delays of Facebook, and is taking action. She has now summoned Richard Allan, Facebook’s European policy chief, along with several other senior executives of the social network in that region to come in to discuss the issue.
There won’t likely be any type of charges filed against them, but rather the summons is to discuss what happened in this instance, and what they are doing to ensure that this type of content is quickly removed in the future.
Someone within the Home Office commented on the situation saying, “Images of children being sexually exploited are sickening and we are determined to tackle this scourge and pursue the vile predators who post them.”
