BBC Tells Facebook About Child Porn on the Network, Facebook Reports BBC to Police

[Wingnut]

In a bizarre twist, Facebook proves why they are the biggest bleep company in world today!


Facebook has come under fire for not doing enough to police secret groups that trade child porn on the network. And in a disturbing twist, Facebook seems to be making the problem worse. When BBC journalists discovered child porn on the network and sent those images to Facebook last week, the company reported the BBC to police in the UK for the distribution of illegal images.

The BBC has been investigating secret child porn rings on Facebook for years. And last week a representative from Facebook, Simon Milner, finally agreed to sit down for an interview about moderation tools on the network. There was just one condition: Facebook asked that the BBC reporters send the company images that they’d found on Facebook’s secret groups that the BBC would like to discuss.

The BBC journalists sent Facebook the images they had flagged from private Facebook groups. And not only did Facebook cancel the interview, the company reported the journalists to the police.

“It is against the law for anyone to distribute images of child exploitation. When the BBC sent us such images we followed our industry’s standard practice and reported them to CEOP [Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre],” Facebook told Gizmodo in a statement. “We also reported the child exploitation images that had been shared on our own platform. This matter is now in the hands of the authorities.”

More:

http://gizmodo.com/bbc-tells-facebook-about-child-porn-on-the-network-fac-1793033881

[Suppressed]

Facebook did the right thing.  BBC never should have sent the actual images.

[Wingnut]

Facebook did the right thing.  BBC never should have sent the actual images.

BS.   

[r9etb]

Facebook did the right thing.  BBC never should have sent the actual images.

Whether or not BBC should have sent the images, it certainly looks like Facebook was mainly engaged in CYA for stuff already stored on their own servers. 

One can see why -- a fair argument could be made that Facebook is in some sense complicit in the trafficking of those images; for sure, they wouldn't want to end up in court having to defend themselves against the charge.

[EC]

Facebook did what Facebook does. Penalizes or punishes the person reporting the problem.

They do exactly the same with persistent bullying and harassment.

[Wingnut]

Facebook did what Facebook does. Penalizes or punishes the person reporting the problem.

They do exactly the same with persistent bullying and harassment.

Exactly!  Thanks for expanding on my comment @EC

[thackney]

Facebook did the right thing.  BBC never should have sent the actual images.

It would have seem a link to the same image on their (Facebook) servers would have been more appropriate.  But I suspect they were after the story as much as getting the images removed.

[Cripplecreek]

Facebook asked that the BBC reporters send the company images that they’d found on Facebook’s secret groups that the BBC would like to discuss.

The BBC journalists sent Facebook the images they had flagged from private Facebook groups. And not only did Facebook cancel the interview, the company reported the journalists to the police.

“It is against the law for anyone to distribute images of child exploitation. When the BBC sent us such images we followed our industry’s standard practice and reported them to CEOP [Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre],” Facebook told Gizmodo in a statement.

Sounds like a set up.

[r9etb]

Sounds like a set up.

No doubt it was a setup.  But the images apparently really are on their servers.  So BBC is trying to set up a situation where they ask, "Hey, Facebook -- what do you say about people using your service to traffic in child porn?"

And in response, it looks like FB is trying to minimize their exposure to the same laws they're trying to use against the BBC.

[catfish1957]

Here is an interesting fact that puts things in power perspective....

FB Market Cap-  About $400B

UK GDP- $2T

UK's GDP in its entirety is only worth 5X of FB total worth.

[geronl]

Facebook did the right thing.  BBC never should have sent the actual images.

Facebook supports child porn and the BBC was trying to get it removed.

[Sanguine]

So, why didn't the BBC call in the cops?  This isn't the sort of thing you "meet about".

Not defending FB, but seems like a strange move on the part of the BBC.

[LateForLunch]

So, why didn't the BBC call in the cops?  This isn't the sort of thing you "meet about".

Not defending FB, but seems like a strange move on the part of the BBC.

You clearly misunderstand the far left. For them, all such mattes swiftly degenerate into a carnival of mutual rape.

See, it's just that acting on purely moral, ethical grounds without some ideological "payoff" for the principle is a disorienting concept to far leftists. They have no compass with which to calibrate matters like this, so they collapse into a state of morose, surly antagonism and capricious hostility directed at anyone who brings such matters to the fore. In the most literal sense they endeavor to punish the messenger and practice the ancient cacogenic credo that, "Ill news is an ill guest".

[thackney]

So, why didn't the BBC call in the cops?  This isn't the sort of thing you "meet about".

Not defending FB, but seems like a strange move on the part of the BBC.

I think they were wanting their story first.

[Sanguine]

I think they were wanting their story first.

Looks like that was their priority. 

[thackney]

Looks like that was their priority.

Let's be honest.  Simply getting Facebook to remove the current pictures would not solve the problem.  They need the public to rise in anger to get Facebook to treat this seriously.  But the BBC exists to sell the stories and the ads people see while looking at the stories.

[The_Reader_David]

Here is an interesting fact that puts things in power perspective....

FB Market Cap-  About $400B

UK GDP- $2T

UK's GDP in its entirety is only worth 5X of FB total worth.

Not really.  You have the units on the UK GDP wrong, it's $2T/year.  The GDP doesn't reflect the static value of the country's assets, just its annual output of goods and services.  If you want a static comparison, add up the market cap of every British corporation, and all the value of real estate in the UK and compare it with FB's market cap.  Or, compare FB's annual revenues with the UK's GDP.