FB Hosted Child Bride Auction

KingstonsMom · ‎03-09-2010

An auction for a South Sudanese child bride was hosted on Facebook on October 25, unbeknownst to the social networking site for over two weeks.

The father who benefited from the sale secured 500 cows, three cars and $10,000 in exchange for his 17-year-old daughter's hand in marriage, from the highest bidder out of five men, some of whom are high-ranking government officials, according to a child's rights organization called Plan International.

Facebook found out about the post on November 9, took it down and permanently disabled the account that posted the auction, but the daughter had already been married by that time.

'This barbaric use of technology is reminiscent of latter-day slave markets,' George Otim, Country Director of Plan International South Sudan, said.

'That a girl could be sold for marriage on the world’s biggest social networking site in this day and age is beyond belief.'

The issue of paying a dowry for a bride in South Sudan, which Facebook classified as human trafficking, is complicated, to say the least.

Western advocacy groups consistently call for an end to the practice altogether, while some young girls in the country have said prices have gotten too high, thus encouraging the sale of younger and younger girls, all while a cattle famine has made resources scarce for everyone involved, also encouraging sales of brides but also creating an environment for theft to thrive as young men hope pay a bride price.

The teenage girl in this case was married to the auction's winner on November 3, in the country’s Eastern Lakes state. There's no word on her feelings about the union.

'Any form of human trafficking -- whether posts, pages, ads or groups is not allowed on Facebook. We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this to Facebook,' a company spokesperson said in a statement.

'We're always improving the methods we use to identify content that breaks our policies, including doubling our safety and security team to more than 30,000 and investing in technology.'

More info:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6411511/Facebook-hosted-South-Sudanese-child-bride-auction-...

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

riley1 · ‎03-10-2010

I'm surprised that no one saw and reported that page to alert FB.

PhilaLady1 · ‎03-11-2010

WOW this incident is beyond words horrific. This makes me so angry.

And this "There's no word on her feelings about the union". Well of course not, certainly she is not allowed to have any words.

And it is time for Facebook to go byebye.

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

Good heavens, that is the craziest thing, but I guess nothing should surprise us at this point. Poor girl, I hope the man isn't mean to her.

scatcat · ‎03-15-2010

So we’re all mad at FB but not the family who SOLD THEIR DAUGHTER?

Is it possible for FB to monitor every single post that goes up?

goldensrbest · ‎03-10-2010

@scatcat wrote:
So we’re all mad at FB but not the family who SOLD THEIR DAUGHTER?

Is it possible for FB to monitor every single post that goes up?

It is really bad the people do this, i don't know how you stop this if it is common in their country.

When you lose some one you L~O~V~E, that Memory of them, becomes a TREASURE.

Deanie · ‎03-09-2010

I dont for one minute believe F did not know about this.

kitcat51 · ‎09-15-2016

Selling girls for marriage goes on everyday in other countries, only someone who doesn't know would be outraged it was on FB too & the girls involved are much younger than 17, they should be going to grade school & playing with dolls. I don't know what can be done about the disgusting custom, a little amount of money & livestock increases the father's standing & meager wealth. In this country I was stunned to see what happened with the FGM case in MI...I read it on the Fox News website but I'm sure it can be found on others so please read & then check to see if FGM is banned in your state.

riley1 · ‎03-10-2010

@kitcat51 - That practice is horrific and should be against the law. However, I checked my state and nope, we do not have a law against FGM. I'm not really shocked because my state can't seem to deal with regular crime on a daily basis.

kitcat51 · ‎09-15-2016

@riley1 wrote:
@kitcat51 - That practice is horrific and should be against the law. However, I checked my state and nope, we do not have a law against FGM. I'm not really shocked because my state can't seem to deal with regular crime on a daily basis.

My state has passed a law but 23 others haven't, if your state is a no please contact everyone who can get a law passed...no girl should have this horrific practice done to them. I hope the judges decision is overturned in the MI case.