Meta’s AI sends ‘junk’ tips to Justice Department, US child abuse investigators say

Meta’s use of artificial intelligence software to moderate its social media platforms is resulting in a large volume of useless reports of child sexual abuse cases, straining resources and hampering investigations, officials at the U.S. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) said.

“We get a lot of tips from Meta that are just garbage,” Benjamin Onion, a special agent with the ICAC task force in New Mexico, said last week during his testimony in Meta’s state trial. The state’s attorney general is accusing the company’s platforms of putting profits over the safety of children. Meta disputes these claims, pointing to changes the company has introduced on its platforms, such as youth accounts with standard protections. The ICAC Task Force is a nationwide network of law enforcement agencies coordinated with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate and prosecute cases of online child exploitation and abuse.

Another ICAC official spoke about the condition of…