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Press & Media: Track record of online harm

A timeline of failures by the technology industry to protect its users

To understand the priorities of a company, look to their actions, not their words.

In keeping with this principle, C3P has committed to maintaining an ongoing compilation of public reports (e.g., media articles, news releases, research reports and summaries, blog posts etc.) documenting the failures and anti-social behaviours exhibited by technology companies, including social media platforms.

Collectively, these reports shed light on the devastating consequences of technology companies failing to prioritize the safety of their users, especially for vulnerable groups such as children. The contents of this timeline reinforces the urgent need for strong government regulation in digital spaces. *

Last update: 2024-12-19

Platform Referenced

* Other: 11% YouTube, 23% AI, 7% Omegle, 6% Reddit, 5% Amazon, 6% Discord, 6% Twitch, 5% Microsoft, 5% Roblox, 1% 4Chan, 1% Bing, 1% Cash App, 1% DeliverFund, 1% Epic Games, 2% Kik, 1% Pinterest, 1% recontre-ados.com, 1% Skype, 1% Soundcloud, 1% Telegram, 2% VR, 1% Yubo, 1% Zoom, 1% Wizz, 1% Scribd, 1% Mastodon, 1% Fizz, 1% OnlyFans, 1% BrandArmy

† 35% of Meta cases are Facebook, 34% are Instagram, 5% are WhatsApp

Subject Matter

*Other includes encryption, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, sextortion

Date
Details
2024-07-24

Roblox’s Pedophile Problem

Source: Bloomberg

2024-06-16

Inside Snapchat’s Teen Opioid Crisis

Source: Rolling Stone

2024-06-08

An Anonymous-Messaging App Upended This High School

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2024-04-08

Teen Girls Confront an Epidemic of Deepfake Nudes in Schools

Source: The New York Times

2024-02-05

20 Years of Facebook: A Danger to Society

Source: The Tech Oversight Project

2023-12-01

Meta Is Struggling to Boot Pedophiles Off Facebook and Instagram

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2023-06-07

Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2023-05-18

Extremism Finds Fertile Ground in Chat Rooms for Gamers

Source: The New York Times

2023-05-13

TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2023-02-13

Now for sale: Data on your mental health

Source: The Washington Post

2023-01-06

Apple fined 8M euros in French privacy case

Source: Politico

2023-01-04

Meta fined 390M euros in latest European privacy crackdown

Source: The Associated Press

2022-12-14

Report: TikTok boosts posts about eating disorders, suicide

Source: The Associated Press

2022-08-26

Meta's Facebook agrees to settle data privacy lawsuit

Source: Financial Post

2022-08-22

Inside the secret world of trading nudes

Source: BBC News

2022-06-21

Pornhub Parent Company's CEO and COO Resign

Source: Variety

2022-06-13

The Fight To Hold Pornhub Accountable

Source: The New Yorker

2022-06-10

White supremacists are riling up thousands on social media

Source: The Associated Press

2022-06-09

Your kids' apps are spying on them

Source: The Washington Post

2022-06-09

Facebook fails again to detect hate speech in ads

Source: The Associated Press

2022-06-01

A Platform 'weaponized': how YouTube spreads harmful content- and what can be done about it

Source: NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

2022-04-28

Failure to Protect: Social media copmanies are failing to act on antisemitism

Source: Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc.

2022-04-17

Instagram under fire over sexualised child images

Source: The Guardian

2022-04-06

How Instagram fails to act on 9 in 10 reports of misogyny in DMs

Source: Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc.

2022-04-06

Hidden Hate: How Instagram fails to act on 9 in 10 reports of misogyny in DMs

Source: Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc.

2022-03-21

‘Kill more’: Facebook fails to detect hate against Rohingya

Source: The Associated Press

2022-03-16

Instagram Adds Parental Controls for the First Time

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2022-03-13

Facebook Has a Child Predation Problem

Source: WIRED

2022-02-23

Inside Pornhub

Source: The Verge

2022-02-17

Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop

Source: TIME

2022-01-12

Nearly half of the accounts Twitter fails to remove for abusing women go on reoffend

Source: Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc.

2021-12-30

Facebook's Metaverse: One incident of abuse and harassment every 7 minutes

Source: Center for Countering Digital Hate Inc.

2021-12-07

Instagram pushes drug content to teens

Source: NBC News

2021-10-24

Facebook apps used to groom 24 children every week

Source: The Telegraph

2021-10-01

When one pill kills

Source: NBC News

2021-10-01

The Facebook Files: A Wall Street Journal Investigation

Source: Wall Street Journal

2021-09-08

How TikTok Serves Up Sex and Drug Videos to Minors

Source: The Wall Street Journal

2020-12-04

The Children of Pornhub

Source: The New York Times

2020-02-06

Pornhub Doesn’t Care

Source: Vice

2018-12-20

Facebook's Bottomless Pit of Scandals

Source: CNN

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