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Facebook reports BBC to authorities after reporters send tech giant examples of child abuse images shared on THEIR social network

The broadcaster and the tech giant are at odds over the investigation

FACEBOOK failed to remove sexualised images of kids after being tipped off about them, an investigation found.

Perverted pictures, pages aimed at paedophiles and a “still” from a child abuse video were reported to Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant.

 Facebook has been accused of not doing enough to tackle the issue of child sex abuse images being shared on the social network
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 Facebook has been accused of not doing enough to tackle the issue of child sex abuse images being shared on the social networkCredit: Reuters

But investigators said 82 of the 100 images they flagged up using  Facebook’s “report button” were not removed.

A message replied that they did not breach “community standards”.

When BBC reporters sent examples to Facebook the firm passed on the information to the police.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “They were very explicit   and very sexualised photos  of children.

“I find it hard to believe that individuals at Facebook had seen these images and made a decision that they were okay.

“If it is automated  they need to stop  and improve their process.”

According to Facebook’s community standards, “sexually suggestive content” is not permitted.

Users are encouraged to flag inappropriate posts using the report link.

 Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer of Facebook
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Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer of FacebookCredit: AP:Associated Press

Damian Collins, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he had “grave doubts” about Facebook’s ability to moderate content.

The tech giant said it has now taken down all of the  100 images after carefully reviewing them.

A spokeswoman added: “We take this matter extremely seriously and continue to improve our reporting and take-down measures.

 Damian Collins, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he had “grave doubts” about Facebook’s ability to moderate the images
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Damian Collins, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he had “grave doubts” about Facebook’s ability to moderate the imagesCredit: Getty Images

“It’s 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 the CEOP.

“We also reported the child exploitation images that had been shared.”


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