Instagram wrongly says some users violate child sexual abuse rules

Instagram users have told the BBC that the “extreme pressure” of being banned from using accounts after being wrongly accused of being violated by platforms that violate child sexual exploitation rules.

The BBC has been with three parent company Meta informed their accounts that they had permanent disability, only to restore them to journalists shortly after their case.

One of the men told BBC News: “I lost endless sleep and felt isolated. It was horrible, let alone being charged in my head.”

Mehta declined to comment.

More than 100 people claimed to have been banned from using the Meta and have contacted BBC News.

Some talk about the loss of revenue after being locked onto their business pages, while others highlight the pain of not getting years of pictures and memories. Many people point out the impact it has on their mental health.

More than 27,000 people signed a petition that accused the Metastatic system, Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), wrongly banning the account and then conducting an appeal process that is not suitable for purpose.

Thousands of people are also in Reddit forums specifically targeting the topic, with many users posting on social media about being banned.

Before Yuan Dynasty Acknowledge the Facebook group’s problems But denial of its platform has been affected more widely.

The BBC changed the names of the people in this article to protect their identities.

David from Aberdeen, Scotland was suspended from Instagram on June 4. He was told he did not follow Meta’s community standards Child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity.

He appealed that day, and then permanently disabled on Instagram and its associated Facebook and Facebook Messenger accounts.

David found a Reddit thread, many others posting what they were wrongly forbidden for sexual exploitation.

“Because of my memory, in my case, we have lost years of memory, and this is due to totally outrageous, evil allegations,” he told BBC News.

He said that Me is “embarrassing”, AI-generated responses and answers to his questions. He still doesn’t know why his account is banned.

“I lost endless sleep, extreme stress, and felt isolated. It was so scary, let alone being accused on my head.

“Although you can talk to people on Reddit, it’s hard to talk to family members or colleagues. They may not know there’s a ban happening.”

The BBC filed David’s case to Meta on July 3 because of one of many people who claimed to have been wrongly banned for child sexual exploitation. Within a few hours, his account was restored.

“Sorry we made such a mistake and you can’t use Instagram for a while. Sometimes, we need to take action to help our community be safe.”

“It’s a huge weight on my shoulders,” David said.

Faisal was banned from using Instagram on June 6 for alleged child sexual exploitation, and like David, he found his Facebook account was also suspended.

Students from London are pursuing careers in creative arts and are starting to make money through commissions on their Instagram pages. He felt he had done nothing wrong after he appealed, and his account was banned a few minutes later.

He told BBC News: “I don’t know what to do, I’m really upset.

“(Meta) wrongly accuses me of crimes I have never done before, which also hurts my mental state and health, which has left me purely isolated over the past month.”

The BBC filed his case with Meta on July 3. About five hours later, his account was restored. He received the exact same email as David who apologized by Meta.

He told BBC News that he was “very relieved” after hearing the news. “I’m trying to limit my time on Instagram right now.”

Faisal said he was still upset about the incident and now worried that an account ban could occur if any background checks were conducted on him.

A third user, Salim, told the BBC News that he was also wrongly banned from his account for violating child sexual exploitation.

He stressed his case to reporters, saying the appeal was “largely ignored”, that business accounts were affected, and that AI “labels ordinary people as criminals.”

Nearly a week after he was banned, his Instagram and Facebook accounts were restored.

When asked by BBC News, Meta declined to comment on David, Faisal and Salim’s case and did not answer questions about whether users were wrongly accusing users of child abuse.

But, in part of the world, it has acknowledged that there is a broader problem.

The BBC learned that the chairman of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communication Committee of the South Korean National Assembly said last month that The Mega has acknowledged the possibility of being suspended Applicable to people in her country.

Dr. Carolina, a blogger and researcher at Northumbria University for social media temperance, said it is difficult to know the root cause of the problem because Meta is not open to it.

However, she believes this may be due to recent changes in wording of certain community guidelines and the ongoing lack of viable appeal proceedings.

“Meta usually doesn’t explain what is causing the removal. We don’t want what went wrong with the algorithm,” she told BBC News.

“We take action on accounts that violate the policy and people can appeal if they think we have made a mistake,” Mehta said in a previous statement.

In conjunction with all the large technology companies, regulators and authorities have been under increased pressure in recent years to keep their platforms safe.

Mehta told the BBC that it combines personnel and technology to find and delete accounts that violate its rules and is unaware of the spikes in the wrong account suspension.

Meta says his child sexual exploitation policy Related to children and “non-realistic descriptions with human similarity”, such as content generated by art, AI or fictional characters.

Meta also told the BBC a few weeks ago It uses technology to identify potential suspicious behaviorsuch as adult accounts reported by teen accounts, or adults who repeatedly look for “harmful” terms.

Meta noted that when it realized “obvious child exploitation,” it reported it to the U.S. National Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC told BBC News it makes all these reports available to law enforcement worldwide.