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Facebook Says a 'Technical Issue' Caused Drugs, Animals and Other Illegal Listings To Flood Its New Craigslist Competitor (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tech-is-hard dept.

On Monday, Facebook launched Marketplace, its own take on eBay and Craigslist to offer users a platform to buy and sell things. Less than a day later, the company said there was a "technical issue" that caused drugs, animals, adult services, and other illegal items to appear in Marketplace. Business Insider reports: In a statement to Business Insider, Facebook director of product management Mary Ku said the company is "working to fix the problem" and "closely monitoring our systems to ensure we are properly identifying and removing violations before giving more people access to Marketplace." To police what is sold in Marketplace, a Facebook spokesperson previously told us that the social network will rely on its employees proactively looking for offensive listings as well as users reporting posts they think should be removed.

9 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Technical glitch by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or attempt at providing an authentic Craiglist experience?

    1. Re:Technical glitch by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

      PHB1: "Hey, let's be Craigslist without the blackjack and hookers!"

      PHB2: "Excellent idea, I'll get on it! ... By the way, what's Craigslist?"

      PHB1: "Uh, blackjack and hookers."

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      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Technical glitch by sims+2 · · Score: 2

      Is it possible to browse without a FB account?

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      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
  2. Hubris by Comboman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's the height of hubris for Facebook to assume that can rely on the network effect from their huge membership to quickly and easily reproduce what took eBay, Amazon and Craigslist decades to develop (and even they still mess it up on a fairly frequent basis). In a year this mess will join the likes of Facebook Deals, Facebook Credits & Facebook Gifts on the scrapheap of Facebook's attempts to expand beyond social networking by creating a poor implementation of someone else's idea.

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    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:Hubris by bobbied · · Score: 2

      Where I get your perspective, why mess with success? I think there is good to be had here.

      Who knows that E-Bay has the most optimal solution for online auctions sites? Maybe there is something else to be learned? The only way you kick the huge guys like E-Bay off center is to innovate around them. The problem is that innovation is not always successful, often it isn't, but that's what makes this whole thing keep working.

      So what if somebody thinks they can make money on Craig's list idea? Or somebody thinks they can compete with E-Bay? I say, power to them, wish you luck. Come up with something unique, do it better, cheaper, faster than the big guys and you can win a big payday. Heck, just show yourself able to compete even on a small scale and the big guys are likely to just buy you out instead of risking it....

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      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:Hubris by i.r.id10t · · Score: 2

      As both a buyer and seller I think gunbroker's auction system is much better than ebays. Just the 15 minute rule alone (any bids in the last 15 minutes sets the clock back to 15 minutes) turns a GB auction into an actual auction as opposed to a sealed envelope bid that closes at a specific time. Cheaper rates, no forced payment methods, etc. are all great for sellers as well.

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      Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  3. Technical Difficulties by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah. It was full of people.

  4. Standardized sharing [Re:Hubris] by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    hubris for Facebook to assume that can rely on the network effect from their huge membership

    Why doesn't somebody come up with a standard to share and control sharing of info so that one is not tied to a monopoly to house such info?

    Companies who "lost" the network effect fight or only sell generic hosting should be happy to support such a standard because it would level the playing field. Zuck would be zucked.

    It might require a non-profit "registry" of contacts, though.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  5. Smells like... by geekmux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "...the company said there was a "technical issue" that caused drugs, animals, adult services, and other illegal items to appear in Marketplace."

    Er, a technical issue?

    Smells more like simple supply and demand to me. One would think one of the largest for-profit corporations on the planet would recognize a revenue stream when they see it.

    And don't bother talking about morals or ethics. They sold your digital soul ten times over for far less.