As Zuckerberg’s Facebook Fosters Child Abuse and Exploitation, Investors Start to Speak up
Posted on 05/10/2021
U.S. public pensions and sovereign wealth funds like Norway Government Pension Fund Global are major shareholders in social media giant Facebook, which owns Whatsapp and Instagram. Large tech companies armed with cash, lobbyists, and influence are able to get away with possible criminal usage on their platforms.
In 2019 there were nearly 17 million reported cases of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), 94% of which stemmed from Facebook, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. As the world’s largest social media company and the largest facilitator of reported child sex abuse online–Facebook’s actions will, for better or worse, have a major impact on global child safety. Facebook is by far and away the world’s largest source of online child sexual abuse materials. The company has been harshly criticized by governments, law enforcement, and child protection organizations for its insufficient efforts to prevent or stop CSAM. Platforms like Facebook can be used by sexual predators to contact children. Facebook requires everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account (in some jurisdictions, this age limit may be higher). Snapchat also has a 13-age-minimum policy.