Facebook ‘failing to detect abuse images’

FACEBOOK has allowed more than half a million child abuse images to go undetected since switching off scanning software, the NSPCC has estimated.

The tech company turned off its software in the EU that blocks known indecent child material being uploaded to its apps last year in response to new European privacy laws.

However, Facebook is yet to resume scanning even though the bloc has since clarified it is not banned under the new regulations. The NSPCC warned that this means around 1,600 abuse images a day are not being found in an estimate drawn from the numbers Facebook was reporting before it halted scanning.

Facebook has said the delay was the result of it building “new technical measures” and that it plans to resume “some” scanning from this week.

In April, the EU clarified that its eprivacy Directive rules did not prevent the scanning of child abuse and the legal text was altered in August.

Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said: “It’s staggering that more than half a million child abuse reports could have been missed because of Facebook’s decision to stop scanning messages for child sexual abuse content in the EU.”

Responding to the estimate from the NSPCC, Facebook’s new parent company, Meta, said it had “no tolerance for child exploitation on our platforms and continues to invest in industry-leading tools to protect children online”.

A spokesman said: “Our fight against child exploitation has continued even as we comply with the eprivacy Directive. This includes continuing to scan public surfaces on our apps, stopping adults from messaging children they’re not connected with and actioning user reports.”