This week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking him to work harder to ensure unsafe goods are removed from the Facebook Marketplace after identifying that the number of banned and recalled products being offered for sale has increased significantly.
Increased online activity means that more needs to be done to ensure harmful products and listings are being dealt with accordingly. Alex Hoehn-Saric, Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has tweeted about the issue showing his concern that the situation is growing out of hand, creating serious threat to the health and lives of consumers.
Today I sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking him to strengthen @Meta’s efforts to prevent the posting of banned & recalled consumer products for sale on their platforms, including Facebook Marketplace. @USCPSC has found that the number of banned & recalled products for sale on @Meta’s Facebook Marketplace has increased significantly over the past several years, posing a serious threat to the health and lives of consumers.
– Alex Hoehn-Saric, Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
When the CPSC spot a banned or recalled product being sold on a marketplace in the U.S. they issue a ‘take down’ request to have the product removed. Facebook Marketplace is however, making up a growing proportion of those requests. In the Fiscal Year 2020, around half of the requests were on Facebook marketplace and approximately 75 percent of the CPSC’s take down requests have been made to the same platform in the Fiscal Year 2022, showing worrying growth.
The letter details appreciation over Meta’s usual cooperation with the CPSC and outlines the ultimate goal to never see banned or recalled goods available to buy on the platform. Facebook have until the August 19, 2022 to reply to the letter and collaborate on the matter.
