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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Katie McQue

How Facebook Messenger and Meta Pay are used to buy child sexual abuse material

Meta Facebook Facebook Messenger United States Sexual Abuse Instagram PayPal Police
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A Meta spokesperson said the company uses a combination of automated and human review to detect suspicious payment transactions. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

When police in Pennsylvania arrested 29-year-old Jennifer Louise Whelan in November 2022, they charged her with dozens of counts of serious crimes, including sex trafficking and indecent assault of three young children.

One month earlier, police said they had discovered Whelan was using three children as young as six, all in her care, to produce child sex abuse material. She was allegedly selling and sending videos and photos to a customer over Facebook Messenger. She pleaded not guilty.

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