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Facebook Flooded With 'Sextortion' and Revenge Porn, Files Reveal (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Facebook had to assess nearly 54,000 potential cases of revenge pornography and "sextortion" on the site in a single month, according to a leaked document. Figures shared with staff reveal that in January Facebook had to disable more than 14,000 accounts related to these types of sexual abuse -- and 33 of the cases reviewed involved children. The company relies on users to report most abusive content, meaning the real scale of the problem could be much greater. But the Guardian has been told that moderators find Facebook's policies on sexual content the hardest to follow. "Sexual policy is the one where moderators make most mistakes," said a source. "It is very complex." Facebook admitted this was a high priority area and that it was using "image-matching" software to stop explicit content getting on to the site. It also acknowledged it was difficult to draw a line between acceptable and unacceptable sexual content.

54 comments

  1. Shocker by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    Is it really a shock that the human race is full of a bunch of morally corrupt douche bags? You allow people to post anything you want and that's what you are going to get.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Shocker by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah. Sorta like Slashdot with the intelligence factor decreased by an order of magnitude. Sadly, Facebook does not have the moderation and meta moderation that has made Slashdot a paragon of civility and reason.

      --
      That is all.
    2. Re:Shocker by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Slashdot doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator, because a lot of them don't like to read.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:Shocker by mu51c10rd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slashdot doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator

      Oh? Ever try browsing at -1? I'm quite sure Slashdot has plenty lowest common denominator types...

    4. Re:Shocker by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Is it really a shock that the human race is full of a bunch of morally corrupt douche bags?

      Actually, this is evidence for the opposite: That people are generally good.

      There are over a billion people on Facebook, and only 54,000 sextortioners. That is only 0.0054% or about one out of every 19,000 users.

    5. Re:Shocker by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Such individuals make up only a small portion of the population. It's just that social media greatly magnifies their impact.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    6. Re:Shocker by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

      Most of those people can spell 95% of the words correctly. That's quite a high bar.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    7. Re:Shocker by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Touche.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    8. Re:Shocker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ever try browsing at -1? I'm quite sure Slashdot has plenty lowest common denominator types...

      I always do; It's the most entertaining part. Also there are great posts at level zero. Compared to facebook Slashdot [even -1] is an Ivory Tower of philosophers.

    9. Re:Shocker by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Sorta like Slashdot with the intelligence factor decreased by an order of magnitude.

      Conservation of Ninjutsu?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    10. Re:Shocker by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I was going to object against the trite use of the word "flooded", but you made my case for me. ;) It is indeed a blip.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    11. Re:Shocker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't think it sounded like a lot until you said I have a 1 in 19,000 chance of being sextorted. Or would have, if I had ever taken a nude photo of myself. In fact, assuming only about 50% of people have taken a naked photo of themselves to have stolen, it drops to more like 1 in 10,000 or less. Not really something to be terrified of, but still too frequent...

      http://www.thebody.com/cgi-bin/bbs/showflat.php?Board=infected&Number=265466

    12. Re:Shocker by Dread_ed · · Score: 2

      Dammit! Don't you know it's quite rude to link to TV Tropes during normal business hours? I have work that will never get done now.

      --
      When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
    13. Re:Shocker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you have saved me from writing this.

    14. Re:Shocker by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator

      I don't know what you mean. Plenty of "technocrats for Trump" popped up this last season to start dropping their non-thoughts on us.

    15. Re:Shocker by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Such individuals make up only a small portion of the population. It's just that social media greatly magnifies their impact.

      Exactly. Social media is like a force amplifier for assholes and fucktards. And the worse they are the more coverage and attention they get. Is it any wonder it tends to bring out the worst people in the worst ways?

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    16. Re:Shocker by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Time zones, my friend, time zones! I posted it in late evening.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. That happens... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...when you try to do a social/news/chat/porn/whatever website all in one: you get every kind of problem to deal with, and you specialize in solving none.

    1. Re:That happens... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      Thought we were talking about Facebook not 4chan.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:That happens... by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

      Whats the difference?

  3. Re:What do you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you expect when it's filled like retards like yourself who think politics is no different than a game of football with two teams.

    People like yourself need to go die in a fire.

  4. Re:slashdot, too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I always find it humorous that Slashdot doesn't have a max character limit for posts.

  5. Re:slashdot, too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one who finds these hilarious and well done?

  6. I find this hard to believe by kaizendojo · · Score: 1

    The poster didn't offer any examples, ya know, just for research purposes.

  7. Re:slashdot, too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No! They're awesome!

  8. Pretty simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it's pink, it's _WRONG_. Red? Okay, then.

  9. Re: slashdot, too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of it is from Seinfeld. You can tell the parts that aren't, because whoever wrote it isn't a good writer.

  10. Re:slashdot, too! by sqorbit · · Score: 1

    I hope this is copypasta and you did not take the time to type that all. This is slashdot. We are productive workers here with only small amounts of time to slack of and read such long posts.

    --
    Sent from my TARDIS
  11. Sextortion was tried on me by Khyber · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My first response was "So, you're going to blackmail me with pictures of me doing shit that everyone's already seen me doing in the past? Get a life you fucking broke-bitch virgin. Release them, I'll make more money than you will."

    Doesn't work very well when your intended 'victim' already had a bit of a career in porn, and also freely showed themselves the moment they were legal, 16 years ago.

    If people were more like me, this kind of problem wouldn't exist.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    1. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Pics, or it didn't happen.

    2. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Christ, what an asshole.

    3. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you're also a furry, how disgusting.

    4. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://twitter.com/hashtag/mutuallyassuredhumiliation?lang=en

    5. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      freak.

    6. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Khyber · · Score: 1

      If only Geocities hadn't closed down and wiped my page. Though I'm sure there are a few stalkers out there (see half the AC comments replying to me) that have a copy.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    7. Re:Sextortion was tried on me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was it gay porn, you fucking faggot?

  12. Re:What do you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    retard

  13. Um, actually, by rickb928 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Facebook Flooded With 'Sextortion' and Revenge Porn, Files Reveal"

    "Facebook had to assess nearly 54,000 potential cases of revenge pornography and "sextortion" on the site in a single month"

    Um, this site claims there were almost 5 billion pieces of content posted in march 2017. .0001% of all items? Wow, a flood?

    "in January Facebook had to disable more than 14,000 accounts related to these types of sexual abuse"

    This site (again) claims there were 1.94 billion active accounts in March 2017... Hard'y a huge fraction they disabled. .00072%?

    "and 33 of the cases reviewed involved children."

    This, however, is truly despicable. And virtually immeasurable. Sad to think they must have missed a lot more.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  14. Privacy rules make enforcement difficult by computational+super · · Score: 1

    difficult to impossible to enforce, actually. Since Facebook's employees can't go trolling through random user's Facebook feeds looking for things that violate imagery rules, there's effectively no way to enforce them.

    --
    Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
  15. "involved children" - define "child" by davidwr · · Score: 2

    33 of the cases reviewed involved children

    This could be a stupid teen sextoring an ex-girlfreind, a stupid 13 year old being childish and posting nudes of his sister, or a real sexual predator using Facebook to exploit preschoolers.

    On the "badness scale," that last one is much, much worse than the other two.

    These shouldn't be all lumped together just cecause they all involve minors.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:"involved children" - define "child" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... a stupid teen sextorting an ex-girlfriend ...

      Why is a teen committing sextortion less serious than an adult committing sextortion? As a teen, he will probably receive a token, or no punishment. His abuse of her trust and privacy is a crime with permanent consequences; youth and stupidity doesn't change that.

    2. Re:"involved children" - define "child" by davidwr · · Score: 1

      Why is a teen committing sextortion less serious than an adult committing sextortion?

      It's not: A teen a month shy of his 18th birthday committing sextortion against someone his own age is about the same as if he had waited two months to do the same thing.

      However, morally, it is much different than if he did it 5 years earlier in life and somewhat different than if he did it 5 years later in life.

      I'll spare you comparing the maturity and presumed legal culpability of 13-year-old vs. an 18-year-old, I assume those are obvious.

      As for an almost-18-year-old vs. a 23-year old: Many jurisdictions treat 17-year-olds as adults for serious crimes already. However, there's a medical argument that people's moral judgement doesn't really reach "adult level" until their early-to-mid 20s. It's one reason why until the late 20th century many countries wouldn't let you vote until you were 21 and many still won't let you hold high- or even mid-level public office until you are 21. It's also the reason that if I were hiring someone for a job that required good moral judgement, I would hire the 23 year old over a 17- or 18-year old if everything else were equal and I might even hire the older person if the younger person were only slightly more suited for the job in all other ways.

      As for sextortion or for that matter any other serious crime where lack of moral judgment was a major factor in why the person committed the crime, if I were the jury or judge setting punishment and the law didn't prohibit me from considering age or maturity, I would probably give the older defendant a 10-20% stiffer sentence if I could.

      --
      Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    3. Re:"involved children" - define "child" by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Or you could bypass this whole shitstorm-in-a-teacup by not having a Facebook account.

      It's worked for me. I'm not bothered by endless pictures of people's breakfast burritos and their streams of mindless bragging about how awesome their new $_gadget is.

      But to each their own, if someone likes Facebook, more power to them.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    4. Re:"involved children" - define "child" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is this Facebook of which you speak?

  16. "Flooded?" FB has 1.94 billion active users by enjar · · Score: 1

    So that's 1,940,000,000 written out. The article mentions 14,000 of those were problematic and had to be shut down. That's 0.0007% of accounts.

    Assuming 20 drops per mL, there are 90921 drops of water in a gallon of water. So one drop of water in a gallon is 0.02%. To even push it to the same order of magnitude would need 100 gallons of water. Would anyone consider one drop in 100 gallons of water "flooding"?

    Not to say that I approve of revenge porn or extortion, but the amount of incidents reported in the article is nothing close to flooding, even if it's five or ten times worse than the reported numbers, and further illustrates the difficulty of trying to find this kind of abuse buried among all the legitimate traffic on the site, plus dealing with false positives or "approved" nudity mentioned in the aricle.

    Source: https://zephoria.com/top-15-va...

    1. Re:"Flooded?" FB has 1.94 billion active users by andrewbaldwin · · Score: 2

      But this is homeopathic posting - the rarer it is the more potent :-)

  17. Re:What do you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can I take your mom with me? She won't take my dick out of her mouth...

  18. Re:slashdot, too! by slashdice · · Score: 1

    I love how there's a link to read the rest of the comment, after displaying the comment in it's entirety.

    --
    Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
  19. Puritan sex rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Sexual policy is the one where moderators make most mistakes," said a source. "It is very complex."

    Yes, this is because they are all rediculous and ultimately at their very root, based on socio-political norms that are constantly changing and never in agreement.

    The biggest example of course being, "does a bare female breast constitute porn?"

    What's the difference between a male breast and a female breast? The female one produces milk for infants. What's the societal difference? Female breasts are sexual. By this logic, an infant getting milk is a sexual act, and a man's wife biting his nipple during sex, is not.

    If anything, male breasts should be considered sexual. Female breasts at least serve a biological purpose. Male breasts are only useful as an erogenous zone.

    1. Re:Puritan sex rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > What's the difference between a male breast and a female breast?

      Easy, a female breast may give me a boner, a male breast won't.

  20. Thank you by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Whoever it was that told me "Don't get a Facebook account", thank you. That was more than 10 years ago and your advice is still sound.

    Oh, wait....that was me who said, "Don't get a Facebook account". Thank you, me!

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  21. Tagging by Rande · · Score: 1

    I wish people would forget about censorship, and just insist on tagging.
    So if I'm offended by the naked breast, then all I need to do is filter on the 'naked breast' tag.

    I'm pretty jaded about most of the stuff that I see on the internet, but even I'm reaching for the brain bleach when I come across surprise necro-bestiality. And that's not just beating off a dead horse there.

    Just tag that shit so that people who don't want to see it don't see it (and conversely, those who do want to, can.)