Facebook Bans Searching 'Chicken Soup' After Man Arrested for Child Pornography - Report
The seemingly innocent phrase, “chicken soup,” used in a Facebook search field could potentially get a user flagged with a warning about child sexual abuse, according to news reports.
Users searching those words on Facebook have been receiving a message advising that “We think your search might be associated with child sexual abuse,” Distractify recently reported.
Say what?
The alert goes on to describe the harm that sexual exploitation does to children, and warns that viewing sexual images or videos of children “can lead to imprisonment and other severe personal consequences.”
It turns out that there is a darker, more sinister meaning to the term that has nothing to do with the culinary concoction.
It apparently is linked to the Spanish-language term for the menu item: “caldo de pollo,” abbreviated “CP,” — which also, authorities said, can stand for “child pornography.”
An example of the term being used in that context came to light in a story about the recent arrest of a Mexican man who attempted to cross into the U.S. on July 15 near Brownsville, Texas, KVEO-TV reported.
Officials with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they searched the man’s cell phone and found videos of “prepubescent female children.”
The Homeland Security Investigations RGV Child Exploitation Task Force was summoned, and investigators from that agency said there were more than 10 videos of child porn on the man’s phone.
Agents asked the suspect about an outgoing message on his Telegram app that asked, “Tienes CP” — which means, “Do you have CP?” in English.
“He told agents ‘CP’ stands for ‘caldo de pollo,’ which translates to chicken soup,” KVEO reported.
“He also claimed that ‘caldo de pollo’ is a code for child porn, but denied knowing the material was on his phone.”
The man was arrested on a charge of possession with intent to view material containing child pornography that had been transported by foreign commerce, the outlet reported, citing federal records.
Some social media companies have been accused of facilitating child exploitation
The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report in June that said Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent company Meta, “helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content.”
Its investigation, assisted by researchers from Stanford University and University of Massachusetts Amherst, found that Instagram “doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them.”
“Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests, the Journal and the academic researchers found,” the report said.
Meta told the Journal it has removed 27 pedophile networks within the past two years and is continuing its efforts.
“Since receiving the Journal queries, the platform said it has blocked thousands of hashtags that sexualize children, some with millions of posts, and restricted its systems from recommending users search for terms known to be associated with sex abuse,” the news outlet reported.
“It said it is also working on preventing its systems from recommending that potentially pedophilic adults connect with one another or interact with one another’s content.”
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