Loungers, which are supposed to be used when babies are awake and supervised, can put infants at risk of suffocation or asphyxiation in a matter of minutes, researchers have found.
- Recalled baby products that have been linked to more than 100 infant deaths are still for sale on Facebook Marketplace, lawmakers said in a letter to Meta.
- Four members of Congress want to know how Facebook parent Meta handles product safety and how many staff are dedicated to trust and safety teams.
- Meta has been in the midst of sweeping layoffs, which have disproportionally affected its teams dedicated to safety, CNBC previously reported.
Recalled baby products linked to more than 100 infant deaths are still widely sold on Facebook Marketplace despite thousands of requests from federal regulators to take down the items, four members of Congress said.
In a letter sent Friday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the lawmakers said the Boppy lounger, which was recalled in 2021, and the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play, an infant sleep product that was recalled in 2019, are among the items still sold on the platform.
Lawmakers wrote that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has sent Facebook parent Meta about 1,000 requests a month since 2022 to remove the recalled Boppy Newborn Lounger, but the product keeps cropping up for sale on the platform.
"To date, the volume of takedown requests has not slowed, and CPSC staff is unaware of any proactive measures Meta has taken to prevent these postings in the future," said the letter, signed by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican; the House Energy and Commerce Committee chair, Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat; the panel's ranking member, Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.
"Meta's failure to prevent recalled products from being posted for sale on its platform has resulted in your users and their children being placed at risk of purchasing and using a product that CPSC has found to pose a serious risk of injury and potential death," the lawmakers wrote.
In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said that "like other platforms where people can buy and sell goods, there are instances of people knowingly or unknowingly selling recalled goods on Marketplace."
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"We take this issue seriously and when we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them," the spokesperson said.
In June, the CPSC's commissioners sent a letter to Zuckerberg calling on him to do more to prevent the sale of the recalled products. But new postings aren't slowing down, according to the lawmakers.
In the letter, the members of Congress asked for more information about Meta's product safety policies, how it monitors recalls and how many staff members are dedicated to consumer-product safety issues.
Recently, the tech company announced plans to cut about 21,000 jobs, and the layoffs have had an outsized effect on Meta's trust and safety work, CNBC previously reported. Some experts and former employees said the layoffs will make it harder for the social media giant to deal with safety-related issues in a timely manner because the teams will have to do more with less, CNBC reported.
Lawmakers sent similar letters seeking information on safety protocols and compliance to more than a dozen retailers with online marketplaces, including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Shein and eBay. But they did not accuse the companies of selling recalled products.
The lawmakers asked Meta to respond by Aug. 31.
