Facebook Accused Of Ignoring Requests To Remove Migrant Torture Videos

Censorship And Free SpeechFacebook was confronted with another content moderation controversy this week when a report from the UK accused the site of hosting videos of migrants being tortured. What’s worse, a UN organization called the International Organization for Migration claims it has complained about the videos repeatedly and Facebook has done nothing.

According to the report from The Times of London, human traffickers post videos on Facebook torturing migrants and threatening their lives in order to extort money from their loved ones. A member of the UN group strongly criticized Facebook for its alleged inaction.

“It is irresponsible for tech companies like Facebook to ignore this issue,” Mohammed Abdiker of the International Organization for Migration said. “It’s hard to believe that the tech giants cannot put some real effort into stopping these smugglers from using their platforms for racketeering.”

However, Facebook defended itself by saying the video in question was part of an effort to raise awareness of human trafficking.

“Offering services to take part in, support or promote people smuggling on Facebook is against our Community Standards,” a Facebook spokesperson told Fast Company. However, we also believe it is important that Facebook continues to be a place where people can raise awareness of important, and sometimes controversial issues.”

No matter what the video was for, it’s clear Facebook has to do a better job explaining its content censorship rules.