Google and Meta have removed the matchmaking app "Adam and Eve", which operates in Iran, from their platforms after a report that 13-year-old girls were listed as potential spouses. Google took the app off the Google Play store on Thursday, 9 October, for violating its policies, and Meta also removed related advertising accounts and external links to underage marriage services.
In a review carried out on Wednesday, 8 October, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) found that 13-year-old girls were presented in the app as potential spouses. Together with 24 civil society organisations, HRANA issued a joint appeal to Meta and Google to remove the app and strengthen protections for children against underage marriage services. A Meta spokesperson said the exploitation of children is a horrific crime and that the company fights it vigorously on and off its platforms.
Child marriage: legal in the Islamic Republic
The platform's managers had earlier defended admitting children by citing Article 1041 of the Islamic Republic's Civil Code, which sets the marriage age at 13 for girls and 15 for boys. Mohammad Hossein Asghari, the platform's executive director, had said it is legally obliged to accept those who fall within the age range set by law. According to him, about 300,000 people had applied to register and about 70,000 profiles were active.
FilterWatch, the project monitoring Iran's internet, had earlier reported that nearly 17 percent of the profiles published on the platform over six months belonged to people under 18. Child rights activists warn that advertising child marriage through a digital platform normalises the practice more and more.
According to the Islamic Republic's own official statistics, about 25,900 marriages involving girls under 15 were registered in 2022, a figure that reflects only registered marriages.
The Islamic Republic's Civil Code permits the marriage of 13-year-old girls, and a matchmaking platform had turned it into a digital service.
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