Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis (QFR Responses)

QuestionBooker asks how the size of Meta's trust and safety team has changed over the past five years.

ResponseMeta says its safety and security staff grew from roughly 10,000 in 2016 to about 40,000 by 2022, and remains around 40,000.

QuestionBooker asks whether Meta's trust and safety teams handle NCMEC CyberTipline submissions or whether that's a separate unit.

ResponseMeta describes multiple internal teams supporting NCMEC work — flagging/hashing technology, manual investigations, law-enforcement liaison, and public transparency reporting — without naming a single dedicated "CyberTipline unit."

QuestionBooker follows up asking for headcount and five-year trend of the (potentially separate) CyberTipline-submissions team.

ResponseMeta declines to provide a separate headcount, referring back to its answer on Question 1(b).

QuestionBooker asks whether Meta's CyberTipline reports follow a standard format, and if so, what that format is.

ResponseMeta does not give a specific format, but says reports follow the legally required electronic-report structure (including the apparent CSAM image), supports developing common industry standards, and notes NCMEC has publicly praised Meta's efforts.

QuestionBooker asks whether Meta proactively reports planned or imminent child-exploitation offenses.

ResponseMeta says yes, and credits itself with helping lawmakers amend the reporting statute pre-2018 to permit (though not mandate) reporting of planned/imminent offenses to NCMEC.

QuestionBooker asks whether Meta proactively reports potential offenses involving coercion or enticement of children.

ResponseMeta says yes, citing the same statutory reporting categories discussed in its prior answers.

QuestionBooker asks whether Meta proactively reports apparent child sex trafficking.

ResponseMeta says yes, describing dedicated anti-trafficking teams/technology, content removal under its human trafficking policy, and partnerships with NCMEC, Internet Watch Foundation, ECPAT International, HHS, Tech Against Trafficking, and Stop the Traffik.

QuestionButler asks how Meta advertises its Family Center/parental control tools to parents, and for data on what proportion of minor users' parents actually use these tools.

ResponseMeta describes existing parental supervision tools (Family Center, default privacy/safety settings requiring parental approval for teens under 16), its outreach efforts to publicize them, and its proposed federal legislative framework requiring app-store-level parental approval, age verification, supervision tools, content standards, and restricted (age/location-only) ad targeting for teens under 16.

QuestionAsks whether Meta measures — and if so, why it doesn't disclose — the estimated total (absolute, not percentage) amount of content on its platforms violating its suicide/self-harm policy.

ResponseMeta says it tracks "prevalence" (share of views) rather than absolute content volume, because violating content is often removed before enough of it is seen to estimate precisely — it can only give an upper-limit prevalence figure (~0.05% in Q3 2023), not a raw count.

QuestionFollow-up on removed self-harm/suicide content: asks whether Meta measures or discloses pre-removal view counts, a specific January 2024 view estimate, demographic data on who viewed it (including how often minors viewed it), and repeat-viewer counts.

ResponseMeta largely declines each sub-ask: it defers to its Question 1 answer on prevalence methodology, gives only a Q4 2023 upper-limit prevalence figure (0.05%) instead of a January 2024 count, and states flatly that it does not track demographic viewer data — including how many times minors viewed removed self-harm content — or repeat-viewer counts.

QuestionIs it Meta's policy to prevent children under 13 from using Facebook/Instagram or creating an account?

ResponseMeta says its ToS require users to be 13+ and it blocks/disables accounts on reliable evidence of underage use, but pivots to advocating for app-store-based age verification/parental approval legislation instead of platform-level verification.

QuestionWould it be appropriate for school-aged children to access Meta's apps during class?

ResponseMeta declines to take a position, deferring to school administrators, and pivots to describing its educational use cases and parental time-management tools.

QuestionAs a parent, would Zuckerberg be concerned about his child accessing Meta's apps during class via a school network/device?

ResponseMeta again defers to school administrators rather than answering the personal/parental question directly.

QuestionShould K-12 schools block student access to Meta's apps on school networks/devices?

ResponseMeta declines to say whether schools should block its apps, again deferring to school administrators.

QuestionShould Wi-Fi-equipped school buses allow students to access Meta's apps during rides?

ResponseMeta again defers to school administrators rather than taking a position on school-bus Wi-Fi access to its apps.

QuestionAs a parent, does Zuckerberg think it's important to supervise children's internet access?

ResponseYes — Meta describes its parental supervision tools, adoption/retention stats, and its preferred legislative framework (app-store-level parental approval and age verification) as its answer.

QuestionAs a parent, would Zuckerberg be concerned about unsupervised internet access via school bus Wi-Fi?

ResponseMeta doesn't answer the personal question directly, instead describing its parental supervision tools and default settings.

QuestionShould Congress condition E-Rate broadband subsidies on schools blocking student access to Meta's apps?

ResponseMeta declines to take a position, deferring to Congress and school administrators on E-Rate conditions.

QuestionDoes Meta support the Eyes on the Board Act of 2023 (S. 3074)?

ResponseMeta does not directly say yes or no on the specific bill, instead offering general support for consistent online-service rules and describing its existing parental supervision tools.

QuestionGiven Meta's push for app-store-level parental approval, does Meta believe it should itself take responsibility for children/teens on its platforms by seeking parental approval, and why?

ResponseMeta answers by describing its existing parental supervision tools/adoption stats and reiterating support for app-store-level parental approval legislation, without directly stating whether Meta itself bears responsibility.

QuestionDoes Meta have a responsibility to remove under-13 accounts from Facebook/Instagram?

ResponseYes (implicitly) — Meta describes its 13+ ToS requirement and its reporting/investigation process for removing under-13 accounts.

QuestionHow many under-13 reports did Facebook/Instagram receive over the last 5 years, and how many led to disabled accounts?

ResponseMeta gives a partial-period removal figure (two quarters of 2021 only: 4.8M Facebook, 1.7M Instagram accounts) rather than the requested 5-year report/disable breakdown.

QuestionDoes a human review every under-13 report, and how does Meta verify an account holder's age?

ResponseMeta describes a two-stage automated + human-reviewer process for evaluating under-13 reports (not literally "every" report reviewed by a human — automation resolves many cases first), plus a third-party age-verification partnership with Yoti for date-of-birth changes.

QuestionUnder what circumstances does Meta not act on an under-13 account report?

ResponseMeta says accounts stay active when there's insufficient activity to assess age, and otherwise punts back to its Question 24(b) answer rather than listing specific non-action circumstances.