Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Sep 06, 2025

Apple threatened Facebook ban over slavery posts on Instagram

Apple threatened Facebook ban over slavery posts on Instagram

Apple threatened to remove Facebook's products from its App Store, after the BBC found domestic "slaves" for sale on apps, including Instagram, in 2019.

The threat was revealed in the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) Facebook Files, a series of reports based on its viewing of internal Facebook documents.

Facebook says it prohibits human exploitation "in no uncertain terms".

It says it has been "combating human trafficking on our platform for many years".

The firm added: "Our goal remains to prevent anyone who seeks to exploit others from having a home on our platform."

Hashtag slavery


The BBC News Arabic investigation exposed a booming online black market in the illegal buying and selling of domestic workers.

It shed light on a world in which women endured a life of servitude and were kept behind closed doors, deprived of their basic rights, unable to leave and at risk of being sold to the highest bidder. Experts said these conditions amounted to slavery.

The trade was carried out using a number of apps including Facebook-owned Instagram.

The posts and hashtags used for sales were mainly in Arabic, and shared by users in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The women were often categorised by race, and available to buy for a few thousand dollars.

The WSJ reported that following the BBC investigation, Apple told Facebook to do more to tackle human trafficking.

It said the social media giant only took "limited action" until "Apple Inc. threatened to remove Facebook's products from the App Store, unless it cracked down on the practice".

The BBC has approached Apple about the claim.

The paper also quoted a 2019 internal report from Facebook, suggesting that the social media giant knew about, and had been investigating, the online slave trade before the BBC got in contact.

In the report, a Facebook researcher writes: "Was this issue known to Facebook before BBC inquiry and Apple escalation?

"Yes. Throughout 2018 and [the first half of] 2019 we conducted the global Understanding Exercise in order to fully understand how domestic servitude manifests on our platform across its entire life cycle: recruitment, facilitation, and exploitation."

After the 2019 BBC report, Facebook banned the main hashtag used for the trade and removed hundreds of accounts from Instagram.

"We will continue to work with law enforcement, expert organisations and industry to prevent this behaviour on our platforms," it said in response to the investigation.

However, at the time the story was published the BBC found women were still advertised for sale on the platform.

Apple acts


The BBC also alerted Google and Apple, as apps in which women were listed for sale were available via their smartphone app stores.

The illegal sales are a clear breach of the US tech firms' rules for app developers and users - both firms said they worked with the developers to prevent illegal activity.

Google said it was "deeply troubled" by the findings, Apple said it expected developers to take "immediate corrective actions".

A domestic worker advertised for sale on Instagram
Facebook's response

Following the concerns raised by the BBC and Apple in 2019, Facebook "began moving faster", the WSJ said.

It added that "a proactive sweep" looking for human trafficking "found more than 300,000 instances of potential violations and disabled more than 1,000 accounts".

The BBC report also prompted questions from the United Nations.

In its June 2020 response to these, Facebook wrote: "Following an investigation prompted by an inquiry from the BBC, we conducted a proactive review of our platform. We removed 700 Instagram accounts within 24 hours, and simultaneously blocked several violating hashtags."

The following month the company said it removed more than 130,000 pieces of Arabic-language speech content related to domestic servitude in Arabic on both Instagram and Facebook.

It added that it had also developed technology that can proactively find and take action on content related to domestic servitude - enabling it to "remove over 4,000 pieces of violating organic content in Arabic and English from January 2020 to date".


BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposed the buying and selling of domestic workers in the Gulf


Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
×