Facebook putting migrants in danger, says National Crime Agency

Migrant
women rescued from toy dinghies off the coast in the Strait of
Gibraltar.
Reuters

• Migrants are losing their lives in the Mediterranean
  because Facebook is failing to shut down trafficking pages,
  according to one of Britain’s most senior police
  chiefs.
• The
  National Crime Agency’s deputy
  director said Facebook has the technology to remove pages run
  by organised gangs, but is “not stepping up in the way we would
  want.”
• Facebook said people-smuggling pages and groups violate
  its rules, and it is “always improving” the methods it uses to
  root out offenders.

One of Britain’s most senior police chiefs says migrants are
being “lured to their death” because Facebook is failing to shut
down trafficking pages.

Tom Dowdall, the deputy director of the National Crime Agency,
pointed the finger of blame at Facebook after claiming that it
has found more than 800 pages run by organised gangs, which ferry
illegal immigrants across Europe on boats unfit for crossing
oceans.

It remains a major problem in Europe, with the UN revealing last week that
more than 1,500 refugees and migrants lost their lives attempting
to cross the Mediterranean in 2018 alone.

In an interview with The Evening
Standard, Dowdall said: “Since December 2016, we have
identified over 800 Facebook pages which we consider as being
associated with organised immigration crime. That is largely
offering vessels, documents, transport services. There is enough
we are seeing to indicate to us that it supports criminality.”

He added: “They are being lured to their deaths using an
application that they are using every day of the week.”

Dowdall said it is problem that needs to be addressed by
Facebook, but the National Crime Agency “haven’t had enough
willingness yet” from the Silicon Valley company. The technology
exists, he said, to target the offending pages, but Facebook is
“not stepping up in the way we would want.”

He explained: “Facebook have developed a fantastic ability to be
able to identify patterns and how everybody operates on a day to
day basis.

“This is no different: there will be patterns that are developed
here which we know that Facebook and others can be onto really
quickly. We need their cooperation to be able to identify and to
either close down these sites or be able to further investigate
them.”

A Facebook spokeswoman said: “People smuggling is illegal and any
posts, pages or groups that coordinate this activity are not
allowed on Facebook.

“We work closely with law enforcement agencies around the world
including Europol to identify, remove and report this illegal
activity, and we’re always improving the methods we use to
identify content that breaks our policies, including doubling our
safety and security team to 20,000 people and investing in
technology.”