Child Brides in Africa Are Advertised on Facebook and Sold to Old Men
Source: The Daily Beast
In one Nigerian community, illiterate fathers have learned from their sons that Facebook is a good way to let buyers know their daughters are for sale.
Philip Obaji Jr.
04.04.19 4:57 AM ET
OBANLIKU, Nigeria—Monica, 16, is one of two sisters sold as wives to men who found their photographs on their father's Facebook page and contacted him. She and her 14-year-old younger sister never wanted to get married until they completed their secondary education in Ogbakoko, a small village in Obanliku Local Government Area in Nigeria’s south-central Cross River state. But the teenage sisters fell victims to a culture which subjects little girls, some as young as 10, to de facto slavery through a tradition called “money marriage.”
The sisters belong to the Becheve community, a large tribe of 17 villages in Obanliku where there is a long tradition in which young girls—often referred to as “money women” or “money wives”—are sold in exchange for food or livestock or cash, or to settle debts.
Like hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of girls from the Becheve clan who are victims of money marriages, Monica and her sister were sold without their consent. Their father wanted to clear the debt he owed to a distant relative. The two sisters got married a month apart to men whom they did not know at all and who were old enough to be their grandfathers.
Their respective husbands got in touch with their father after seeing the Facebook page where he posted photos of his six daughters to draw the attention of his tribesmen. The men of the clan have found the new technology helps to extend and expand their old, exploitative traditions.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/child-brides-in-africa-are-advertised-on-facebook-and-sold-to-old-men?ref=home
= new reply since forum marked as read
... Facebook did not reply to a request for comment.
That's all I "know"
I'm done. Have a GREAT evening and an even better weekend. 
on his personal FB page (or more often, according to the article, it's a younger more tech-savvy member of the family that sets up the Facebook page etc., but it's on the father's behalf).
It didn't get into detalis of the wording that went with the pictures, could have been kind of subtle, and people who are his relatives, friends, neighbors, and clan members would understand. Anyway, its something only people who know the father is likely to see -- people just checking on various friends and neighbors -- "I wonder how cousin Oluja is doing" ... and then sees the daughters' pictures, with wording like, "looking for an older man to marry" and knowing what its really about.
Edited to ad -- darn, Sapeint Donkey beat me with the same idea, and a much better post too 
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2298293
Facebook is bringing expediency to customs and mores that have served the tribe and its neighbors for a long time. My feeling is that we should indeed force our sense of propriety and decency on them. Of course, their feeling may be that they should force their sense of propriety and decency on the United States.
We have more weapons, so "might makes right", right? 
And, I can't believe that this tribe's matchmaking network makes a big difference to Facebook's profits or losses.
Response to DonViejo (Original post)
