Meta Are Groomers And The State Is Complicit

I have been in communication with Rhys ab Owen MS (South Wales Central) since April, when I finally decided enough was enough and that I would end my use of Facebook. It’s been a long haul but finally, it was thought the time was right, and my evidence provided, along with the current US Senate debates (these debates are annual and achieve nothing) has led to this question being sent to the responsible Welsh minister. Please note that The NSPCC, the UK government, the Welsh Government, the police service, the House of Lords and my MP all responded to my complaint but effectively with ‘there’s nothing we can do’. I have to therefore commend Rhys ab Owen for raising this issue. The response is as expected. Weak. Laws are being broken right now. Facebook is grooming central, is a publisher of porn to under 18’s, is encouraging young people to contribute illegal content. Shame on all those, especially the police, who turn a blind eye.

Why am I publishing this here? Because Life Drawing Wales is banned from Facebook ads and is shadowbanned, for posting drawings and linking out to mainstream news articles from The Guardian and the Telegraph. We published drawings and are censored. Meta encourage child sexual exploitation and remain untouchable.

My email to Rhys ab Owen MS

I don't know if you have been following the senate debates but I will draw your attention to these two clips, which help to underpin the points I have raised regarding grooming and child exploitation on Facebook reels. 

Given that Meta is clearly not doing enough and indeed is facilitating abuse I would like to know, in the light of these hearings, what the Welsh Government will be doing and what action the Welsh Government intends to take against online publishers of child porn and publishers of sexualised young people. 

Rhys ab Owen’s question the response

Rhys ab Owen (South Wales Central): What is the Welsh Government doing to encourage social media companies to do more to protect young people in Wales from sexual exploitation? (WQ91284)

Jeremy Miles MS Minister for Education and the Welsh Language

The long-awaited UK Government Online Safety Act, which establishes a new online safety regulatory framework, is a step forward. The legislation imposes new legal duties and responsibilities on regulated services, including social media, video-sharing platforms, and search engines to protect their users. I welcome the enhanced protection the Act promises to afford children and young people.

Ofcom, as the appointed Online safety regulator, will have an expanded range of duties and powers to hold these online services to account. Ofcom are currently consulting on their Codes of Practice that are designed to compel social media platforms to implement measures that effectively safeguard young people from online harms. 

I welcome the open and positive approach that Ofcom is taking. Officials are actively working with Ofcom Cymru to ensure the voices of Welsh young people are represented in the consultations and support them to shape comprehensive and robust Codes of Practice to ensure social media platforms provide safer online experiences for children and young people.  

How weak was that!

The response from Jeremy Miles MS is as expected. Meta hides behind the ‘we are not publishers’ assertion which is patently not true as Meta moderates, as we saw during the plandemic, very well indeed when it chooses. The Online Safety Act is not there to protect anyone. It is there for the state to close opposition and to persecute those who do not align themselves with the ‘new thing’. This is so frustrating. Laws exist that could see Facebook banned in the UK today, at least until they removed Facebook Reels or cleaned up that part of their platform.

I will respond expressing my dismay at such a response and the lack of will to take decisive legal action against Meta.

This process began with my email to my MS’s on April 6th 2023 and following the inaction of the police who say ‘we do not investigate social media’, which is a lie as on many occasions they feel it necessary to police Twitter for ‘hate speech’, which is often simply someone’s opinion or ‘hurty words’, and the RSPCC, who acknowledged my first email and then disappeared into the ether…

Dear Andrew RT Davies, Rhys ab Owen, Heledd Fychan and Joel James,

For some time now both of my businesses have been shadowbanned by
Facebook. This is for two reasons both of which are not legitimate. I
stay within Facebook's posting rules but I get an occasional strike
that I contest, and then they apologise, but, it appears the strike remains.
This has devastated both businesses, effectively wiping out my client
base.

I have Facebook admitting there is a problem and that they will
investigate, but nothing has happened. That acceptance was over a year
ago and despite chasing I've heard nothing back.

And so I have investigated Facebook Reels. I don't post nudity with
nipples, vaginas, anus or gyrating teens who most certainly would not
be publishable in mainstream media. But Facebook does... You will need
to follow the link to my blog post to see the evidence and I warn you
now IT DOES contain nudity with all of those body parts clearly
visible.

I want to know what you will be doing about this matter which is
devastating the young, making narcissistic exhibitionists of teenage
girls. Further, I want to know what you will be doing to protect
legitimate small businesses from the inadequate accountability and bot
led decisions that so damage years of hard fought for reach.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Lamb

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