Facebook parent company Meta is permitting its users to seek out human smugglers on its platform, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Free Beacon.
Meta will allow its users to solicit human traffickers, the Free Beacon reported, continuing its current policy, though the company will not permit users to offer human smuggling services. The company cited the need to allow users to safely seek “asylum” as justification for the policy.
“We observed that a slight majority of stakeholders favored allowing solicitations of smuggling services for reasons associated with asylum seekers,” the company wrote in the memo, the Free Beacon reported. “We decided that this was indeed the best option since the risks could be mitigated by sending resources, whereas the risks of removing such content could not be mitigated.” (RELATED: Facebook Loses Bid To Dismiss Anti-Monopoly Lawsuit)
An immigrant family from Haiti walks towards a gap in the U.S. border wall from Mexico on December 11, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Meta also announced in the memo that the company would engage in “proposed interventions such as sending resources to users soliciting smuggling services,” according to the Free Beacon.
The company cited input from “NGOs working with migrants” and sought out “global perspectives and a broad range of expertise,” the Free Beacon reported.
Meta spokesman Drew Pusateri confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the company would allow solicitation of human smuggling services on its platform.
“We regularly engage with outside experts to help us craft policies that strike the right balance between supporting people fleeing violence and religious persecution while not allowing human smuggling to take place through our platforms,” Pusateri said. “At this time, we have no policy changes to announce.”
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