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Facebook is under fire from critics for a "barbaric use of technology" that has allowed the sale of a married child on its site.
An auction was held on the social media platform for a 16-year-old girl from southern Sudan who was looking for dowry to get married.
Facebook said the job was removed as soon as the company knew about it, but it was not until the girl's wedding.
According to the Plan International child rights organization, five young men, some of whom are believed to have been high-ranking officials of the South Sudanese government, made an offer to the girl.
Activists fear the auction – for which the father would have received 500 cows, three cars and $ 10,000 in exchange for his daughter – may inspire other families to use social media sites to receive more dowries large.
The director of Plan International in Southern Sudan, George Otim, said: "That a girl can be sold for marriage on the world's largest social networking site to date and beyond belief. "
He added: "This barbarous use of technology is reminiscent of modern slave markets."
Facebook told CNN that its platform had been used for auctions, which had started on October 25, and that it had been withdrawn on November 9 – 15 days later.
"Any form of human trafficking – whether it's publications, pages, ads or groups, is not allowed on Facebook. We have removed the post and permanently disabled the account belonging to the person who posted it on Facebook, "said a company spokesman in a statement.
"We are constantly improving the methods we use to identify content that violates our policies, including doubling our security team to more than 30,000 and investing in technology," added the spokesperson.
A gender equality organization, Equality Now, has used Facebook to improve its monitoring practices.
"Violations against women in South Sudan are a persistent problem, but the problem is that Facebook allows their platform to reinforce these violations," said Judy Gitau, regional coordinator of Equality Now for Africa.
She told CNN that Facebook was responsible for upholding women's rights and added: "They should put more human resources in place to monitor their platform to ensure the protection of women's rights and human rights. everyone."
Plan International has also called on the Government of Southern Sudan to investigate and suspend any official involved in the auction of the bride.
"Child marriage is a serious violation of human rights and a form of violence against girls," group Otim said in a statement.
"This can have profound consequences on the survival, health, education, development and well-being of a child, and is often done against one's wishes and best interests."
According to UNICEF figures released in November 2017, 52 percent of girls in southern Sudan are married before turning 18.
The UN agency, which helps children in need around the world, says high rates of poverty, instability and gender disparity fuel child marriage – girls and their families are convinced that this can help them out of poverty.
