Facebook, the world’s largest social network platform, has a porn problem.
Several Facebook handles are misusing the platform’s live streaming feature to broadcast pornographic content. These videos appear under the live category of the Watch section.
Some of these pages have thousands of followers, in some cases more than 50,000.
[Please note that we have posted the URL of such pages in plain text to prevent proliferation or accidental clicks.]
For instance, a page called “Viral Videos” (https://www.facebook.com/people/Viral-videos/100090566025780/) has nearly 7,800 followers and has multiple pornographic content posted as live video.
Another profile called “Radhika” (https://www.facebook.com/people/Radhika/100083230485988/) has 75,000 followers. One of its pornographic videos had 3,000 real-time viewers as of May 19. Similarly, another profile called “Nutan Kumari” (https://www.facebook.com/people/Nutan-Kumari/100083972567128/) with 83,000 followers was found broadcasting pornographic content.
Similarly, Entrackr came across profiles such as “Funny Videos in the world” (https://www.facebook.com/people/Funny-videos-in-the-world/100090263324337/?sk=videos), “Testing Viral” (https://www.facebook.com/people/Testing-Viral/100090936473481/), and Pratima Pathak (https://www.facebook.com/people/Pratima-Pathak/100083681382605/), among others.
We also noticed that these so-called live videos were posted using hashtags like #Tadap and #ChristianoRonaldo. Also, it appears these pages are listed as video game creators. The page transparency section of these pages reveal that some of these pages are being managed from India, while some are from the US and other countries.
It appears that these pornographic content have been on the live section for quite some time. Last week a Twitter user pointed out the same problem, whereas another tweeted about the same issue tagging Meta, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and Ministry of Home Affairs.
After Entrackr spotted such content last week, multiple users confirmed they were seeing such content on their Facebook apps as well. As of now, it’s not clear whether this is just an India-specific problem or prevalent in other geographies too.
Entrackr has reached out to Facebook for more information.
With nearly 2.9 billion monthly active users, Meta-owned Facebook is the world’s largest social networking platform. India, however, contributes the maximum number of users at nearly 314.6 million followed by the US’ 175 million, according to the latest data on Statista.
Even as the massive scale gives Facebook an edge over rivals, it has also struggled to maintain users’ privacy and security over the years. Misinformation and fake news have also emerged as a big nightmare for platforms like Facebook. Though, explicit and graphic content challenges have been around for a relatively long time.
With most social media platforms failing to meet basic norms like age verification, the risk of policy action to penalize a headline grabbing act like porn on the platforms risks doing far more damage in the long term. From ideas like adhaar verified accounts to other age verification tactics, outrage on porn could lead to actions that would really impact how the platforms function today.
As far as the live feature goes, its misuse is not really new. Back in 2019, Facebook was forced to make its policies for live streaming more stringent in the aftermath of a mass shooting in New Zealand that was live streamed on the social networking platform. For instance, it introduced a ‘one strike’ policy to Live in connection with a broader range of offenses.
Facebook, however, is not alone in facing challenges with the abuse of livestream features. In the past, creators on platforms like Bigo Live (banned in India) were caught live streaming objectionable content with impunity. Meta’s other popular social platform, Instagram, also faces this problem.
As of now, Facebook’s policies forbid “explicit sexual activity and simulation” on its platform.
“Explicit sexual intercourse or oral sex, defined as mouth or genitals entering or in contact with another person’s genitals or anus, where at least one person’s genitals are nude,” according to its policies.
“Explicit stimulation of genitalia or anus, defined as stimulating genitalia or anus or inserting objects, including sex toys, into genitalia or anus, where the contact with the genitalia or anus is directly visible,” it further says.
It also appears that pages are trying to circumvent Facebook’s policies by misusing gaming streaming features. We observed several pages which were posting pornographic content were listed as gaming creators. It’s worth noting that in August 2022, Facebook shut down its Facebook Gaming app, which was once viewed as a competitor to the popular game streaming platform Twitch.
According to a report by Streamlabs, Facebook Gaming just held 7.9% of the market share in the terms of hours watched, far behind Twitch (76.7%) and YouTube (15.4%) in the second quarter of 2022.
That said, India’s porn ban of 2018, while listing specific sites, also includes publishing or transmission of material containing sexually explicit acts in electronic form.
Shruti Shreya, a programme Manager at research and public-policy think-tank Dialogue, told Entrackr that an intermediary is obligated to take action on pornographic content on receiving actual knowledge regarding its illegality through a court order or government notice under the IT rules, 2021.
“Other than this, a user complaint also obligates the platform to take action in cases of pornographic content. Accordingly, as long as a platform is taking action when notified through these modes regarding pornographic content, it enjoys its safe harbour protection and has no liability in respect of any illegal or harmful content on its platform. With that being said, the IT Rules also direct the platforms to deploy proactive monitoring tools on a best-effort basis to remove such types of content,” she said.
Shreya further said that most of the intermediaries already follow this practice and use automated tools to proactively identify and remove harmful content.
It is important that the intermediaries ensure that these tools evolve over time and also undertake effective enforcement of their terms of service to ensure that users are deterred from posting any kind of illegal or harmful content, she added.
“If the government chooses to act on pornographic content on Facebook, the company would be held liable under the IT Act which could result in fines, penalties, or even criminal proceedings. The government could also order Facebook to block access to content, which could have a potentially significant impact on the company’s business in India,”Ibrahim Khatri, CEO and founder at security firm Privezi Solutions, told Entrackr.
That said, it is evident that Facebook must do more to strengthen its content moderation mechanisms, particularly concerning its live feature. It should be proactively monitored and regulated as it could help restore trust and foster positive user experiences.
At the time of writing this story, pornographic content was still appearing on the top of the live feed on Facebook.
