‘BARBARIC’

Child Bride Auctioned for Marriage on Facebook

Platform took 15 days to spot and remove South Sudan listing. By then, the girl was already married.

Facebook is being condemned after a father in South Sudan used the embattled social network to auction off his 16-year-old daughter as a bride to the highest dowry bidder, in what activists are calling a “barbaric use of technology reminiscent of latter-day slave markets.” CNN reported Tuesday that it took Facebook 15 days to spot and remove the auction—and that by then, the girl had already been sold and married for 500 cows, three cars, and $10,000. Five men reportedly bid on the girl, including a number who are said to be high-level South Sudanese officials. In a statement, a Facebook rep said the company took a hard stance against the auction: “Any form of human trafficking—whether posts, pages, ads or groups is not allowed on Facebook,” she said. “We removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted this to Facebook.”