In February 2024, The Times published an article alleging social media, including Facebook (part of Meta), is “awash” with recruitment agents charging migrant care workers extortionate recruitment fees for jobs in the United Kingdom.

An undercover reporter discovered agents offering jobs in the care sector under false promises for high fees. Agents charged fees more than 20 times the cost of applying directly via the UK government website. The article notes the most common countries for middlemen to operate in are India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

The article describes the undercover reporters’ findings in the context of widespread evidence of abusive working conditions for migrant care workers, including extortionate fee charging, wage theft, and poor living conditions.

In March 2024, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Meta to respond to the article and to outline how it monitors and removes content from recruitment agencies exploiting prospective care workers to the UK, particularly in India, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Meta's response can be read in full below.