6 ms·

Facebook Has a Child Predation Problem

29 points by wahnfrieden 4y ago

techdragon 4y ago
https://twitter.com/lara_putnam/status/1503008400405377030 https://twitter.com/lara_putnam/status/1503008400405377030 was pretty shocking. Being recommended something like this is just a vile thought.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  This echoes their previous neglect that led to the ads platform being abused by state actors to stoke genocides. They said that they only have time to focus on a shortlist of countries (basically an economic ranking). We evidently can't trust these orgs to be responsible or to address harmful neglect without public outcry and action to drive accountability or real change.
- ssizn 4y ago
  Given that recommendations are generated automatically I don’t know what you expect.
  - wahnfrieden 4y ago
    Automation is no excuse lol “Hmm given they wrote the code to do this we should expect it” adds what to the conversation?
    - ssizn 4y ago
      That the algorithm that recommends groups doesn’t detect malicious groups and has nothing to do with Facebook’s ability to shut them down.
      - wahnfrieden 4y ago
        Who's talking about ability, it's obviously chiefly about business resource priority and incentives. Product requirements sink or swim under operational processes and exec or managerial direction. Businesses keep resources constrained at any scale for economic growth efficiency.
  - marginalia_nu 4y ago
    Given it's easy for Facebook's recommendation algorithms to dig these groups up, why is it ostensibly hard for Facebook to identify and shut them down?
    - ssizn 4y ago
      “Dig groups up” as if groups weren’t being removed because they were somehow lost in the database even though the recommendation algorithm can find them.
    - mikkergp 4y ago
      This is ultimately the question. What's the theory, They're making too much money targeting ads to child predators? Don't want to piss off that constituency? Too cheap to hire more moderators? I guess it's so bad it's strange to me.
      - wahnfrieden 4y ago
        it’s as likely a priority as any given foobar widget feature request. neglect isn’t usually carefully considered
GauntletWizard 4y ago
In my brief time at Facebook, I was asked to pick a team after boot camp. One of the options was their "Security tools" team, who were tasked with interfacing with law enforcement. They were really good guys, though they definitely looked like they bore some heavy weights. I also went through boot camp with a guy who'd been a customer support rep, learned to code and use the internal tools, and was being promoted to engineer to tackle improvements to them. At some point, he introduced me to his boss's boss, a director equivalent that was responsible for both teams. They creeped me out, but gave me some advice that the security tools team was not the one to join. I later (after I left Facebook) met the boss who warned me off that again at a well known kink event. They were talking with an unfortunately too close acquaintance, and very drunk. Very drunk and talking about their ageplay fetish that clearly wasn't just humor or roleplaying. I'm not surprised that Facebook has a child predator problem.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  well that's horrifying
nonameiguess 4y ago
This is a Tweet that just links to a story. Post that actual story instead of the Tweet: https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-has-a-child-predation-problem/ https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-has-a-child-predation-p...
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  please buzz off. the story’s author provided relevant updates in the thread. it’s a link to the author’s thread of updates since publication. don’t tell me what to do.
stickfigure 4y ago
I'm going to laugh if all of these are honeypots and sting operations.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  the author addresses that in the replies - if these are stings, they’re stings that are actively sharing thousands of real children
P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago
I didn't read through much of this so I may be misguided here, but how is this any different than trying to get cellphones banned because underage children may send pictures of themselves? If these people aren't actually doing anything but talking in these groups there's no issue here. It's distasteful and FB SHOULD probably boot them off the platform, but this feels like its a far cry from the pornhub broujaja where they were hosting illegal porn and not taking it down.

29 points by wahnfrieden 4y ago

https://twitter.com/lara_putnam/status/1503008400405377030 https://twitter.com/lara_putnam/status/1503008400405377030 was pretty shocking. Being recommended something like this is just a vile thought.

wahnfrieden 4y ago
This echoes their previous neglect that led to the ads platform being abused by state actors to stoke genocides. They said that they only have time to focus on a shortlist of countries (basically an economic ranking). We evidently can't trust these orgs to be responsible or to address harmful neglect without public outcry and action to drive accountability or real change.
ssizn 4y ago
Given that recommendations are generated automatically I don’t know what you expect.
- wahnfrieden 4y ago
  Automation is no excuse lol “Hmm given they wrote the code to do this we should expect it” adds what to the conversation?
  - ssizn 4y ago
    That the algorithm that recommends groups doesn’t detect malicious groups and has nothing to do with Facebook’s ability to shut them down.
    - wahnfrieden 4y ago
      Who's talking about ability, it's obviously chiefly about business resource priority and incentives. Product requirements sink or swim under operational processes and exec or managerial direction. Businesses keep resources constrained at any scale for economic growth efficiency.
- marginalia_nu 4y ago
  Given it's easy for Facebook's recommendation algorithms to dig these groups up, why is it ostensibly hard for Facebook to identify and shut them down?
  - ssizn 4y ago
    “Dig groups up” as if groups weren’t being removed because they were somehow lost in the database even though the recommendation algorithm can find them.
  - mikkergp 4y ago
    This is ultimately the question. What's the theory, They're making too much money targeting ads to child predators? Don't want to piss off that constituency? Too cheap to hire more moderators? I guess it's so bad it's strange to me.
    - wahnfrieden 4y ago
      it’s as likely a priority as any given foobar widget feature request. neglect isn’t usually carefully considered

GauntletWizard 4y ago

In my brief time at Facebook, I was asked to pick a team after boot camp. One of the options was their "Security tools" team, who were tasked with interfacing with law enforcement. They were really good guys, though they definitely looked like they bore some heavy weights. I also went through boot camp with a guy who'd been a customer support rep, learned to code and use the internal tools, and was being promoted to engineer to tackle improvements to them. At some point, he introduced me to his boss's boss, a director equivalent that was responsible for both teams. They creeped me out, but gave me some advice that the security tools team was not the one to join. I later (after I left Facebook) met the boss who warned me off that again at a well known kink event. They were talking with an unfortunately too close acquaintance, and very drunk. Very drunk and talking about their ageplay fetish that clearly wasn't just humor or roleplaying. I'm not surprised that Facebook has a child predator problem.

wahnfrieden 4y ago
well that's horrifying

nonameiguess 4y ago

This is a Tweet that just links to a story. Post that actual story instead of the Tweet: https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-has-a-child-predation-problem/ https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-has-a-child-predation-p...

wahnfrieden 4y ago
please buzz off. the story’s author provided relevant updates in the thread. it’s a link to the author’s thread of updates since publication. don’t tell me what to do.

stickfigure 4y ago

I'm going to laugh if all of these are honeypots and sting operations.

wahnfrieden 4y ago
the author addresses that in the replies - if these are stings, they’re stings that are actively sharing thousands of real children

P5fRxh5kUvp2th 4y ago

I didn't read through much of this so I may be misguided here, but how is this any different than trying to get cellphones banned because underage children may send pictures of themselves? If these people aren't actually doing anything but talking in these groups there's no issue here. It's distasteful and FB SHOULD probably boot them off the platform, but this feels like its a far cry from the pornhub broujaja where they were hosting illegal porn and not taking it down.