Facebook Asks Users Whether Adults Should Be Allowed To Ask Minors For Sexually Explicit Photos
Facebook asked users whether adults should be allowed to ask minors for sexually explicit photos in a poorly-worded and poorly-executed survey about how to address the problem of “grooming” of minors on the social media platform, the Guardian is reporting.
Like most forms of social media, Facebook often puts adults and children into contact with one another, and that is not always for the best. For as long as social media has existed, some unscrupulous users have used these platforms to “groom” young victims for sexual abuse; gaining their trust and then, later, getting contact information, arranging to meet, and even soliciting sexually explicit photos of them.
Clearly, it’s a problem that Facebook will be eager to deal with.
In a survey sent out to some users on Sunday, the social media platform asked users how this problem should be dealt with. Unfortunately, as Guardian writer Alex Hern points out, the survey was, at best, worded poorly.
“In thinking about an ideal world where you could set Facebook’s policies, how would you handle the following: a private message in which an adult man asks a 14-year-old girl for sexual pictures.”
The survey then provided users with a range of answers. One option read, “This content should not be allowed on Facebook, and no one should be able to see it.” Another offered, “This content should be allowed on Facebook, and I would not mind seeing it.”
Facebook asked users if it’s okay for adults to sexually harass kids https://t.co/GSCFgljJFB
— Engadget (@engadget) March 5, 2018
None of the options offered to users involved bringing law enforcement into the equation. The strictest possible response offered by the survey was an option that allowed the company to arbitrate allegations of inappropriate behavior itself.
The survey also touched on some issues not related to pedophilia and grooming. For example, some questions asked how the platform should respond to content that glorifies extremist violence.
Engadget writer Mallory Locklear observes that while Facebook removed the survey quickly, the fact that it was every given approval and sent to users at all is alarming.
“It’s mind-boggling to think that anyone would have considered them to be appropriate queries to begin with.”
Facebook seems to have agreed. Facebook’s vice president of product, Guy Rosen, said in a statement that the survey was not fully thought-out.
“But this kind of activity is and will always be completely unacceptable on FB. We regularly work with authorities if identified. It shouldn’t have been part of this survey. That was a mistake.”
The social media platform was also quick to point out that it has been forbidding child grooming “since the early days” and has no plans to allow the practice to start.
