(The Guardian) — Facebook has been criticized for failing to remove a viral post promoting an auction of a child bride in South Sudan, which eventually led to the payment of the largest dowry ever recorded in the civil war-torn country.

The highest bidder was a man three times the age of the 17-year-old girl who was auctioned. At least four other men in Eastern Lakes state competed, including the region’s deputy governor, said Philips Anyang Ngong, a human rights lawyer who tried to stop the bidding last month.

“She has been reduced to a mere commodity,” Ngong told the Associated Press, calling it “the biggest test of child abuse, trafficking and auctioning of a human being.” Everyone involved should be held accountable, he said.

The girl, named as Nyalong by AP, became the man’s ninth wife. Photos posted on Facebook show her sitting beside the groom, wearing a lavish dress and staring at the floor.

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