Facebook urges users to report rather than reshare malicious content to stop online child sexual exploitation

Facebook has launched a campaign that urges users to report rather than share malicious content on their feed as a way to put an end to online sexual exploitation of children.

In a media conference on Wednesday, Malina Enlund, Facebook's Trust and Safety Manager in South East Asia, said that the social network conducted research for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) where they reported all the times someone shared child exploitative content.

With their study, Facebook found out that more than 75% of these reports involve people sharing with non-malicious intent.

"Non-malicious intent could be someone shares the video out of poor humor, out of outrage, gawking," Enlund said.

An example would be someone who finds an image of a child being molested and finds it horrible so they share it out of anger.

What these users don't know, said Enlund, is that sharing any child exploitative content is illegal and people can be prosecuted for it.

"They want to feel like they're doing something. Of course, we understand that but if people are sharing this content with non-malicious intent, that is still hurting the child," Enlund said.

"Their video is still out there," she added. "It's important for people not to share."

Upon research, Facebook also found out that 90% of child exploitative content was the same as or visually similar to previously reported content and majority of the content comes from a handful of countries concentrated in certain regions.

While the data shows that the number of content doesn't equal the number of victims, and the same content may be potentially altered and is being shared repeatedly, Enlund said that even "one image is too much and one case is too much" already.

As a way to stop online child sexual exploitation, Facebook, in partnership with Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and Stairway Foundation, has launched a campaign to educate users on the harm of sharing malicious content despite their intentions, and that this action is illegal.

According to Enlund, they've also created "a lot of interventions" to notify the users of the consequences of their possible actions.

She said that if someone tries to search up content, a notification will pop up and tell the user that the content the user is searching for is illegal and should they continue, they will be reported.

Users will also be warned if they try to share child exploitative content. If the person stops, there won't be any strike, but if the user continues to share despite the warning, Enlund said there would be measures made against the offenders.

Facebook's Chris Kuzhuppilly also said that the platform has a zero tolerance policy and they will remove the content "regardless of the context" and "disable users who share it."

"No matter the reason for you to share, don't share," Edlund said. "We are all responsible for reporting it to make us safe both offline and online."

—MGP, GMA News