Facebook Conducts Pedophilia Survey, Says It Was A Mistake

Observing the habits of its users and asking for their opinion on certain matters is how Facebook is able to make its decisions that lead to profit. However, the social network recently took matters too far when it sent out a survey asking users about their response to a potential solicitation of sexual images of underage girls. Facebook was essentially asking if its users didn’t mind pedophilia on the platform.

The survey was apparently conducted on Sunday, The Guardian reports when Facebook asked users questions about pedophilic activities. Not only was this move considered inappropriate enough, having the option to say that the activity was not a problem made it even worse.

“There are a wide range of topics and behaviours that appear on Facebook,” one of the survey’s questions read. “In thinking about an ideal world where you could set Facebook’s policies, how would you handle the following: a private message in which an adult man asks a 14-year-old girl for sexual pictures.”

Along with answers that do not condone the act, there was the option to say that it should be allowed, which read “this content should be allowed on Facebook, and I would not mind seeing it.” Naturally, the backlash was swift and the social network has since said that the survey was a mistake.

Facebook VP of Product, Guy Rosen said in a Tweet that the survey was meant to gauge the feelings of the community when it came to Facebook implementing policy changes. The part about not minding pedophiles at all was apparently included in the questions by mistake.

“We run surveys to understand how the community thinks about how we set policies. But this kind of activity is and will always be completely unacceptable on FB. We regularly work with authorities if identified. It shouldn't have been part of this survey. That was a mistake,” the Tweet reads.