Personal privacy, profile settings, and online etiquette have been large topics since Facebook made adjustments earlier in 2010. But what do you do if you notice a profile that appears to be marketing illegal services? Read about when this happened to me as a Facebook community manager and the action I took...
It seems there’s been a rush of social media “settings awareness,” that parallels the general concern of youth on the Internet. Which is good!
I manage a Facebook Fan Page for a local business, and check fan numbers and new faces quite frequently. I stay aware of who is coming and going to protect integrity with high interest in reputation management.
This morning I noticed a new fan and customarily clicked on their name to learn about them. The profile listed both high school and college information. In addition, most interests were geared toward relationships, dating, sex, and the like. Links listed were for escorts in another country. RED FLAG! The real concern came when I saw the picture of a young international girl – probably 14 or 15 years old.
Right away, episodes of Law & Order SVU twirled through my brain. As the mother of a daughter, maternal instinct drove me to examine further. What I was seeing truly appeared to be evidence of illegally marketing young girls to men in North America. If you have any doubts you should always report Facebook profiles that appear to be engaged in illegal activities.
What to do? I couldn’t NOT do anything. I HAD to do something!!
While Facebook’s Help section kept me wondering if I was proceeding correctly, they do provide a path that allows one to report questionable behavior with some efficiency.
Here’s what to do to report Facebook profiles:
- At the bottom right corner of the Facebook screen is a word link, “Help.” I clicked.
- At the “Help Center” screen, I searched for, “reporting inappropriate...” at the very top of that page.
- The following appeared automatically as a choice: “Where else can I report inappropriate or objectionable actions that have been taken against children?” I clicked to choose.
- This led me to the “Security: How do I report abuse?” page. There, Facebook describes their position that they take great effort to assure user safety and strive to make sure interactions encountered on their site are of a safe manner. They strongly encourage users to report suspicious people and inappropriate content.
- Facebook provides a link to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP). I clicked that as well.
- At that point, the material is geared more toward citizens of the UK. But there are links to the Virtual Global Taskforce, among other sources.
- I was able to access a choice for my country origin, and was led to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, here in the United States.
The form provided did not seem correct to me at first -- I did wonder if I was doing the right thing, or if by entering something incorrectly my information would go to the wrong place, which would then be negative for me.
A few minutes of reasoning later I completed the form.
You'll need the following details to complete the form:
- My name, address, phone number, and email.
- A time that I would be available for them to call me back.
- Web address where I found the information.
- Name of the potential victim and where they are located.
- Information about the potentially offending party.
- Any websites listed that I considered offensive (limit of 5 per report).
Impressive - Within 5 hours I received a follow-up call!
The gentleman was direct, yet kind. He let me know that he had taken a look at all the details I provided, and let me know that it was all good and that he forwarded it on to law enforcement. He also thanked me for my report and asked if I had anything to add. In addition, I was able to ask him questions pertaining to my situation and that of the business for the page I manage. My contact assured me that there would be no repercussions on my end.
At this point, I only hope that my efforts lead to helping some unfortunate girl, and to stopping the offending sources.
Over all, I feel pretty good about my actions. I have felt no discomfort from any part of the process, and I feel like I did the right thing.
Have you ever experienced similar? What did you do? If you haven’t, what would you do?
I’m very curious to hear what others have to say – please leave a comment or question!
34 Replies
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I’ve tried everything but can’t seem to find a place to report a group for auctioning that’s are known to be doing illegal things by all the admins except us who have left because of it… it is simply terrible and dishonest but can’t find what I can do??? Thx
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Yesterday I raised a report on facebook, where a share from someone was offering to sell ketamine and other illegal/semi-legal drugs. The reply I got from facebook was “We reviewed the share you reported for containing drug use and found it doesn’t violate our Community Standards.” Facebook do not allow me to comment further in anyway, talk about a company isolating it’s self from it’s clients and turning a blind eye to illegal activity on their site.
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No , my comment was , that when question on why the pick up was changed from different states , while this convo was going on , I believe this person , did not have puppies . I think they were trying to get money and someone to meet them somewhere for the wrong reasons . If it was a real ad for puppies , they would not have had 2 locations , nor would they have disappeared so fast , once I told them my brother is a sheriff deputy . It could possibly be a pedafile .
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Hi Keri, Good for you for persevering through the hoops of FB to report this person/site. An organization I did some work with is ASACP. This would be another, easier route to reporting activities like what you found. It’s a separate agency that reports directly to the group(s) should handle the situation. http://www.asacp.org/
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Keri, You ABSOLUTELY did the right thing. During my years at the televisions station reiterated what many others have said…that no one is willing to stand up and ask, “Is this really OK?”, or “can something be done about this?”. If more of us took actual stands on issues instead of posting inane “use this as your profile image” gimmicks (and yes, I work with social media and realize there’s a fine line between the gimmick and the fun way to take action) the world would be a safer, friendlier, healthier place. Thanks for letting me rant!
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thanks Keri, I don’t know I have run into this situation, but also don’t follow my fans as closely as I need to. I really appreciate your follow through not only for your client but for the young girl victims. hugs, Peg and Doc Peg
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Wow, I’ve yet to come across one of those on Facebook. I’ve seen a few follow me on Twitter and have taken the appropriate action. Glad to see that Facebook’s process for dealing with these issues are robust. There is so much exploitation out there is is heart wrenching. I have two teenage daughters and the world we live in scares me. My youngest daughter is 15 and has closed her Facebook account because she was being harassed. You just have to keep your eyes open, keep scanning the environment to ensure that your children are coming to no harm and if you see anything suspicious always report it to ensure that no others come to any harm either. Of course it doesn’t just happen to girls…
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Moving story Keri. Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist are all PRIME sources where are kids can be and are being exploited. THANK YOU for doing the right thing and helping to save a child’s life!
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Wow..I totally think you did the right thing! The more we bring it out in the open and shed light, the less dark it becomes. Thank you for your courage to share as many people would not get involved, rather look the other way.
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Keri, That has never happened to me, but I would not have hesitated to do what you did. I know that you might worry about it coming back to you. I’m so naive that I probably wouldn’t even have thought about that. I would have just wanted that stopped now and you did that. I might start looking at some of the FB sites I monitor to make sure there are no perverts lurking on them. What a terrible thought. Good job.
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Keri thanks. I do know what to do now. I did only report a profile hijaking on Facebook a month or so ago. Easier, no much details (like you did), but, again, Facebook guys are very quick in responding. That’s make me feel safe.
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Thanks for reposting. It is a topic that is under stated and under reported.
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Thanks Keri for sharing now I know what to do in case of Facebook . What do you have for Linkedin ? One of my most popular discussions on a Linkedin group has been hijacked by a person with no people in her network posting porn posts. I have flagged as inappropriate several times but nothing happened what shall I do ?
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You just did the right thing. Good job! One of the major issue we have is people not reporting suspicious profiles or activities. Facebook is also a bit complicated especially when it comes to reporting. They seem to be doing changes to their security features so often that even I get confused. Nonetheless I do report occasionally.
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