Facebook lambasted over ransom video of traffickers abusing migrants
Thomson Reuters reports that human traffickers have used using Facebook to broadcast the abuse and torture of migrants in order to extort ransom money from their families, the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) lambasted the tech giant for failing to police the platform and help crack down on traffickers.
One video hosted on the site since June shows Libyan gangmasters threatening emaciated and abused migrants – mostly Somalis and Ethiopians – huddled in a concrete room.
The IOM said the traffickers had sent clips to the captives’ families via the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp – a Facebook channel – along with threats that their loved ones would be killed unless ransoms of up to $10,000 were paid.
KJ