Exclusive: Facebook refuses to remove graphic photos of dead Thai children
Facebook has refused to remove graphic images of dead Thai children, including a baby, because it says the posts do not violate its Community Standards.
The distressing images, were included in two separate posts shared in a Facebook group on May 11.
One of the images shows the naked body of a baby that had been dumped in a rubbish bin in central Pattaya.
The other images show the lifeless bodies of two children aged nine and ten who drowned after getting into difficulty while playing in water in Udon Thani.
Both images were posted in the “ข่าวจาก อาสากู้ภัย THAILAND” group which shares graphic and gruesome images from road traffic accidents and crime scenes throughout Thailand.
Both the images of the dead children have been reported to Facebook but the social media platform refused to remove them saying they do not violate its “Community Standards”, even though its standards say that graphic images should include a warning.
“We’ve looked over the post, and although it doesn’t go against any of our specific Community Standards, you did the right thing by letting us know about it”, Facebook said.
Instead of removing the images, Facebook instead advises users to block the person who posted them.
But if photos of dead children do not violate Facebook’s Community Standards, what does?
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment.
Last month, Facebook was criticised for its failure to remove two videos posted to Facebook Live which showed a Thai man murdering his 11 month old daughter in Phuket.
The videos showed Wuttisan Wongtalay tying a rope to his daughter’s neck before dropping her from the roof of a deserted hotel in Phuket.
The videos remained on the father’s Facebook page for almost 24 hours before they were taken down.
One of the videos had been viewed more than 100,000 times, while the other was viewed over 258,000 times.
Despite a request from Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy, it took Facebook a further five hours to remove the videos even after government officials had intervened.
In response to another incident where a man murdered a senior citizen in Cleveland, Ohio, and then uploaded the footage to his Facebook page, CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted the firm had “a lot more to do” on how it monitors and removes graphic content.
Following the incident in Phuket, Facebook announced it would be hiring 3,000 moderators to review content and help remove questionable content more quickly.