Facebook confusion over fake cancer babies U-turn

Facebook has apologised for repeatedly restoring
an account that posted stolen photos of children
falsely claiming they had cancer.
The social network twice disabled the account
following complaints, only to re-enable it hours
later.
"These posts are clearly distressing for the
families and this content has now been
removed," a spokeswoman said.
"We apologise for the delay in taking them
down."
The social network acted for a third time after
the matter was brought to its attention by the
BBC. It has not explained the actions of its
complaints team.
One internet expert said the behaviour had been
"bonkers" and called into question Facebook's
safety procedures.
Fake appeal
The BBC reported on Tuesday the case of a
child from Cambridgeshire whose photos had
been used alongside a fake plea for help.
"This little baby has cancer and he need money
for surgery," the accompanying post stated.
It added that Facebook would donate money for
every "like", comment or share of the message.
The picture was posted at the start of February.
More than one million people responded.
Security experts said such tactics were often
used by "like farming" scammers .
Perpetrators attempt to engage as many users
as possible so that they can later target them
with follow-up messages and/or sell on the
profile page and its associated contacts to
unscrupulous marketers.
The mother of the child - Sarah Allen from St
Neots, Cambridgeshire - said she had been upset
by the discovery.
"We had people messaging saying they had
heard Jasper has cancer," she told the BBC.
"He doesn't. These were pictures from when he
had chickenpox."
Facebook eventually deleted this post but - after
overturning Tuesday's short-lived account block -
left similar fake cancer posts featuring other
children live.
The BBC determined they included an photo of a
three-year-old girl from England, who was injured
in a road accident in 2015. The image belongs to
her parents.
"I need the photo to be removed," said the
mother of the girl - who asked not to be named -
when she was informed of its misuse.
"I am extremely upset about it."
Other images showed:
a teenage boy from Texas in a coma with
viral meningitis. His family had run a
separate crowdfunding campaign to help pay
for his treatment
a young girl from Texas who has progeria, a
genetic disorder that causes premature
ageing. Her mother had blogged about her
life
a baby girl from Pennsylvania, who needed
an operation for omphalocele, a birth defect
of her abdomen. Her parents had shared
photos online of her surgery
a baby from Florida, who died after being
born with a defect of the diaphragm. The
image had been featured in the local press
In addition, the account featured several photos
of dead young children in coffins, claiming users
would have "76 year of bad luck" if they scrolled
past without liking or sharing the posts.
Facebook's community standards say it does not
allow posts featuring images that infringe other
people's copyright.
The company does not require each rights holder
to make a claim before acting.
'Bare minimum'
Facebook first disabled the account on 10
January after Mrs Allen had sent several
messages to its complaints team, only for it to
be made live again the next day.
The social network took the account offline
again on Tuesday afternoon, but it was active
again about five hours later.
The BBC questioned the decision early this
morning. But it was not until about 15:00 GMT
that the account was taken offline for a third
time.
Cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward said
Facebook did not appear to have scrutinised the
case closely enough despite the publicity it had
already generated.
"Clearly anybody should have the right to appeal
their account being taken down, but if it's
returned up that quickly it doesn't show much
due process has been taken in checking it out,"
said the University of Surrey lecturer.
"It's difficult not to conclude Facebook was
doing the bare minimum here."