Facebook: a Forum for Perverts?

By: American Decency Staff

By Chris Johnson In a dark corner of the internet, perverts and scumbags swap trophies of their sexual conquests of innocent children and infants. Pictures and videos of rape and incest are uploaded and discussed, like some kind of sick social club. While it may not be surprising that such a community exists on the internet, the forum they use to exchange their disgusting memorabilia is very surprising – Facebook. After an exposé  by Chelsea Schilling on World Net Daily (WND.com), increasing attention has been brought to the popular social site's disturbing denizens and the ways in which Facebook deals with them. Schilling shares the method she used to uncover what she calls "the dark underbelly of Facebook." "As part of an undercover news investigation, WND used alias Facebook profiles and located dozens of child-porn images after “friendingâ€Â many likely pedophiles and predators who trade thousands of pornographic photos on the social network. During the investigation, entire Facebook predator communities were easily spotted. Child pornographers use groups as meet-up points to find others with similar interests. Many of the offenders would list similar interests on their profile pages, including terms such as “Thirteen,â€Â “Lolita,â€Â “Justin Bieber,â€Â “incestâ€Â and “PTHC (preteen hard-core pornography).â€Â Their activities might include “Receiving nude pics,â€Â and they subscribe to explicit Facebook fan pages posted in plain sight… The following are actual groups and 'likes' currently and/or previously available to site users around the world: Kidsex Young Preteen Lesbians 10-17 Teen Bisexual Incest (2,119 “likesâ€Â on April 19, 2012) PTHC (preteen hard-core pornography) 12 to 13 Boy Sex Young Gay Pics and Movie Trade Gangbanging Hot and Teen Lesbians Bl-wjob Fan Page (1,662 likes on April 20, 2012, mostly girls, some young-looking teens) Young Lesbians Teen Sex Love Little Kids" Schilling's WND article contains graphic descriptions of some of the images found during their investigation as well as screenshots which have been blurred to protect both the subject of the photos and the readers. Needless to say, these images and descriptions are still disturbing and we will not be reposting them. Facebook, then has some questions to answer. Are they aware of the problem? What are they doing to prevent it? Do they continue to look for new ways to block these materials from their site? After the publication of Schillings article, Facebook released the following statement: "Nothing is more important to Facebook than the safety of the people that use our site and this material has absolutely no place on Facebook. We have zero tolerance for child pornography being uploaded onto Facebook and are extremely aggressive in preventing and removing child exploitive content. We scan every photo that is uploaded to the site using PhotoDNA to ensure that this illicit material can't be distributed and we report all instances of exploitative content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We've built complex technical systems that either block the creation of this content, including in private groups, or flag it for quick review by our team of investigations professionals. We've worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the New York State Attorney General’s Office in the U.S., as well as the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the U.K., to use known databases of child exploitive material to improve our detection and bring those responsible to justice. We feel we've created a much safer environment on Facebook than exists off-line, where people can share this disgusting material in the privacy of their own homes without anyone watching. However, we're constantly refining and improving our systems and processes and building upon our relationships with NCMEC and law enforcement agencies specializing in child protection to create an even safer space." It's a pretty strong statement, but the fact remains that this garbage is still on Facebook, so the company is clearly not doing enough to prevent it. Until the time comes when Facebook has purged these groups and images from its network – as difficult as that may be – the company's efforts are unacceptable and incomplete. It's alarming enough that this material is present on a forum that has become a normal part of life for almost a billion users worldwide, but news from New York sheds brighter light on child pornography's shifting place in society. The state's top court ruled that, under state law, the viewing of child pornography was completely legal. The five judges agreed on this point unanimously. A piece by New York Post columnist Thomas Fleming expresses the point well. "…[I]f weird and perverse pornography has to be tolerated, it is not because we tolerate everything. Quite the contrary, in the Anglo-Sphere there has never been so little toleration of dissent and so much power to impose conformity! No, we tolerate this filth because we either approve of it or cannot figure out any rational grounds on which to regulate it – so long as no-one is harmed." It's just plain pitiful when a society can't think of "rational grounds" to prevent its members from exploiting children for sexual gratification. Add to these news pieces the rash of stories about teachers having sex with underage students, or the FBI agent busted for having child porn on his computer – this crap is not as unheard of as it used to be or should be. It's easing its way into daily life and while it may still make most people cringe, it may not make us all cringe quite as much as it used to. As Thomas Fleming notes in his article, "the future lies with countries like the Netherlands, where the age of consent is 16 but children of 12 may have consensual sex with anyone 16 or younger." It may seem unlikely now, but what's to stop it when a culture has no moral anchor? Any perversion can and will be rationalized. ========================================================== To support our efforts please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412. American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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