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| Facebook is testing tools to combat child exploitation |
Facebook has indicated that it is testing more tools to help social media combat child exploitation and prevent people from sharing child-exploiting content.
One of those tools is a pop-up message that Facebook wants to display through its app for people who are using search terms to crawl children.
This letter describes the consequences of publishing this content and provides information on how to obtain assistance from the organization concerned.
Another measure focuses on harmless sharing of child-friendly content so that people sharing that content receive security warnings about potential harm.
The caveat includes a warning that the content conflicts with Facebook's policies and legal implications for sharing this material.
Facebook removed the content and reported it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and removed the accounts promoting the material.
Facebook updated its child safety policy, and as a result it removed Instagram accounts, pages, groups, and accounts used to share pictures of children with inappropriate captions, hashtags, or child tags.
Although photos or videos that people share do not violate Facebook's rules, accompanying text can help social networks determine whether the content is child-sensitive and whether the account, page, or group should be deleted.
Additionally, the company has updated its list of reports on Facebook and Instagram. Users can select to include children in the Nudity and Sexual Activities section.
Facebook has stated that material reported in this way is a priority for content reviewers.
It also uses Google's Content Security API to determine when posts may contain children and to prioritize reviewers.
The company has always used various detection systems to clean up child-exploiting content and has looked for a potentially inappropriate action against children or potential parenting situations.
Facebook said it is looking for networks that violate child abuse rules, such as ways to deal with coordinated and erratic behavior and dangerous organizations.