Facebook for the first time disclosed numbers on the prevalence of hate speech on its platform, saying that out of every 10,000 content views in the third quarter, 10 to 11 included hate speech.
Facebook for the first time on Thursday disclosed numbers on the prevalence of hate speech on its platform, saying that out of every 10,000 content views in the third quarter,10 to 11 included hate speech. The world’s largest social media company, under scrutiny over its policing of abuses, particularly around November’s US presidential election, released the estimate in its quarterly content moderation report. Facebook said it took action on 22.1 million pieces of hate speech content in the third quarter, about 95 percent of which was proactively identified, compared to 22.5 million in the previous quarter. The company defines ‘taking action’ as removing content, covering it with a warning, disabling accounts, or escalating it to external agencies. This summer, civil rights groups organised a widespread advertising boycott to try to pressure Facebook to act against hate speech. The company agreed to disclose the hate speech metric, calculated by examining a representative sample of content seen on Facebook, and submit itself to an independent audit of its enforcement record. On a call with reporters, Facebook’s head of safety and integrity Guy Rosen said the audit would be completed «over the course of 2021.
