As evidenced by Facebook's Community Help pages, there is a long-running problem with the “people you may know” feature. Users are finding this section filled with suggested friends they most definitely do not know, and with whom they have no mutual friends or connection.

Many of these profiles are of a pornographic nature. The profile photos include sexually explicit drawings, various degrees of actual nudity, adverts for sexual services, sexual acts and sexual violence. These inappropriate postings and profiles are not welcome on our Facebook feeds. We are also concerned that pornographic material may have particular adverse impact on:

• young people, and their attitudes towards relationships and the opposite sex (particularly towards females)
• people of any age with a vulnerability e.g. a learning disability, autistic spectrum
• survivors of sexual abuse or the sex trade
• those who have, or have had, pornography addiction 

There is a similar problem with drug selling profiles. Again, these can have a negative impact on those in recovery, the young, the vulnerable.

In both cases, these profiles normalise behaviours which are addictive and harmful.

Facebook's standard answer is to report these kind of profiles, but they fail to uphold their own Community Standards when this is done. Repeated removal from suggestions, feeding back, reporting fakes, individual reporting posts and blocking is not solving the problem of why these inappropriate profiles are appearing in the first place. More are reloaded. It also involves clicking on the profile to be met with more of the same material.  In many cases, obvious pornography and drug dealing is reviewed yet declared to be not in violation of standards.

 We call upon Facebook to

• investigate this issue properly and find a solution to prevent these inappropriate profiles from appearing in the “people you may know” feature
• provide an option to disable the “people you may know” feature
• uphold their own Community Standards by promptly removing reported pornographic material and drug dealing/promoting content
• include an option to report whole profiles for review on the grounds of pornography, selling sexual services, or drugs.

Facebook are making money out of the misery of drugs and the porn trade, and ignoring the needs of their users. Please join with us to get this stuff off our screens and protect vulnerable persons.