Facebook accused of promoting human smuggling amid US border crisis

A US Republican lawmaker has accused Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg of openly supporting human smugglers, fueling false hope among migrants, who are trying to cross the southern US border.

In a letter to Zuckerberg, Florida representative Kat Cammack said the social media giant was trying to "silence" and "shadow-ban" conservative views, while allowing human smugglers and cartels to openly operate on Facebook.

"I take issue when Facebook and other social media platforms actively silence conservatives and "shadow-ban" individuals with views that are not supported by employees of your company,” read the letter.

"However, Facebook's role in the crisis at the border is urgent and must be addressed immediately,” said Cammack, who has recently travelled to McAllen, Texas.

She said US Border Patrol agents informed her that cartels and human smugglers use Facebook to advertise.

Cammack said migrants also told her they relied on Facebook to arrange payments for the cartels’ illicit smuggling services.

An unprecedented number of asylum seekers are seeking to enter the United States through the southern border.

Cammack said she provided screenshots from a Facebook search which reportedly show ads promoting "passage to the United States.”

“Attached to this letter are screenshots from my phone of Facebook pages I was able to find by simply searching for the terms "Cruze frontera a EUA" or "Viajar a Estados Unidos,” read the letter.

Cammack said that at least 50 pages on the platform offer "illegal crossing" services to migrants.

"Travel to Mexico to the United States. Costs $8,000. 100 percent safe," reads a recent post written in Spanish.

"Cross through Matamoros. You walk one hour, after in automobile until you arrive to your relative," read the post.

Cammack wrote, “Instead of censoring conservatives, how about we take on the cartels?

“It is unacceptable for an American company to allow a criminal enterprise to use your platform to freely encourage and facilitate criminal activity," she said, calling on Facebook “to detect and prevent” those activities.

Facebook, however, dismissed the allegations of offering or assisting human smuggling, according to Fox News, which initially obtained the letter.

“We prohibit content that offers or assists with human smuggling and remove it from our platform whenever we find it,” Fox News quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying. “We are reviewing the content that was highlighted to us."

Zuckerberg claimed previously that smuggling ads are against Facebook's policies, and that the company is "taking a lot of steps to stop it."

The Facebook CEO also described the situation on the US-Mexico border as "really serious" saying that “we're taking it very seriously."

The administration of Democratic president Joe Biden has come under fire for its handling of the refugee crisis at the border.

Biden stands accused of inciting a chaotic migrant rush on the US border with Mexico after he vowed to unwind many of the immigration policies of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, when he assumed office in January.

The Department of Homeland Security, which monitors social media posts by potential immigrants, however, says the misinformation spread by smugglers is largely to blame for the recent surge at the border.

Trump has earlier accused Biden of inspiring a "spiraling tsunami" at Mexico border.

“Our border is now totally out of control thanks to the disastrous leadership of Joe Biden.” he said in a statement in March.

While Republicans are being accused of fear-mongering about immigrants, Democrats stand accused of using foreign immigration to distract from the unprecedented economic and health crises. 

Cammack's letter to Zuckerberg came as a Facebook board Wednesday upheld the company's ban on the former president following the riot at the US Capitol, early this year

The former president encouraged his supporters, via posts on Twitter and Facebook, to attack the congress building, calling them “great patriots.”

Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) oversight board ruled that the social media platform was justified in suspending Trump, but called on the company to explain its reasoning if it decides to permanently lock the former president out of its platforms.

The board said that Trump “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible” by maintaining a narrative that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

But Facebook, it said, “must reassess this penalty.”

“It is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored,” the board said.

Trump calls social media platforms a ‘disgrace’

Trump reacted to the company’s decision in a written statement on Wednesday, calling Facebook, Twitter and Google a “total disgrace and an embarrassment” to the nation.

“Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth,” Trump wrote.

The former president called for “corrupt social media companies” to “pay a political price” and “never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our electoral process.”

Facebook’s oversight board said, “At the time of Trump’s posts, there was a clear, immediate risk of harm and his words of support for those involved in the riots legitimized their violent actions.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk