Facebook Marketplace Accused of Putting Infant Lives at Risk: Here's What Was Being Sold
Facebook Marketplace is being accused of allowing the platform’s users to post and sell a number of recalled items that have been tied to more than 100 infant deaths.
That is according to lawmakers and consumer safety regulators who want the items banned once and for all by Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
Fox Business reported that, in spite of thousands of individual requests to have such used items removed from Marketplace, more similar products are still being listed.
The individual removal requests are being honored by Meta, yet items that were pulled off store shelves and online listings as far back as 2019 are still being found posted for new parents to buy.
One of those items is the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper from Fisher-Price.
The bassinet was recalled by the company in 2019 after 30 initial fatal incidents were reported involving their use.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, at least eight infants who were unrestrained in the sleepers died after the product was first recalled.
“Since the recall, approximately 70 additional fatalities have been reported, which includes at least 8 fatalities that were reported to have occurred after the initial recall announcement. Approximately 100 deaths have reportedly occurred while infants were in the products,” the CPSC noted.
In total, an estimated 4.7 million Rock ‘n Play Sleeper units were part of the recall.
Still, the items are being sold on Meta’s servers, lawmakers claim.
Another product the CPSC said in June was still being sold on Facebook was the Boppy Newborn Lounger, Fox reported. The product was recalled in 2021 after eight infant deaths were blamed on their use.
The danger of the Lounger, according to the CPSC, is that infants “can suffocate if they roll, move, or are placed on the lounger in a position that obstructs breathing.”
But while regulators and Boppy have each warned parents to avoid the product, listings for them continue to find their way onto Facebook Marketplace.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter that noted roughly 1,000 requests per month have been sent to Meta to take down listings for both items since last year.
“To date, the volume of takedown requests has not slowed, and CPSC staff is unaware of any proactive measures Meta has taken to prevent these postings in the future,” Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Gus Bilirakis of Florida wrote in a letter that was also signed by Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
McMorris Rodgers is chairwoman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Pallone is the ranking Democrat on the committee.
The lawmakers added, “Meta’s failure to prevent recalled products from being posted for sale on its platform has resulted in your users and their children being placed at risk of purchasing and using a product that CPSC has found to pose a serious risk of injury and potential death.”
A Meta representative acknowledged to CNBC that the recalled products are being posted for sale and said it is unclear if the sellers are aware they have been recalled.
“We take this issue seriously, and when we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them,” the representative said.
Lawmakers asked the company for more information in regard to how it regulates what can and cannot be posted on Marketplace.
They have asked the company for a response by Thursday.
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