We’ve heard a lot of rumors about Facebook’s ongoing reviews on civil rights. Over the past years, Facebook faced a lot of crisis on the basis of its privacy concerns and its content policies. To overcome the same risks of privacy and different areas where Facebook struggled, the tech giant is planning to introduce internal and permanent Taskforce.
COO Sheryl Sandberg will be the chairperson of this task force and according to her the core purpose of this task force is to recruit experts from different fields to serve and to make sure everything is done fairly from voting rights to content policies.
In December 2018, the first installment was published and the third and the last report is expected in the first half of the next year.
The focus of this force is to get feedback from the Civil rights community and address the major issues they’ve raised so that Facebook can be a platform to protect and promote civil rights of its all users.
The struggles between Facebook and civil rights groups started last year when the New York Times reported that PR firm Definers Public Affairs tried to discredit Facebook’s critics by liking them to George Soros, a Jewish billionaire accused of anti-Semitic and various conspiracy theories for progressive causes. This audit resulted in the policy changes at Facebook, which has more than 2.3 billion users around the world.
According to a report, it stated that in March Facebook removed more than 65% of hate speech on its own before the user reported it, more than double the 24% from December 2017.
Facebook is trying hard to make changes and to help create a platform that promotes and protects civil rights.
Photo: AP
Read next: Facebook Announces a Policy to Differentiate Between Deepfakes and Fake News
Purpose of Civil right task force
This Taskforce will focus on a different type of Facebook’s Content policies, the fairness of its artificial intelligence and help overcome the issues regarding the privacy of its uses and areas Facebook has struggled with.COO Sheryl Sandberg will be the chairperson of this task force and according to her the core purpose of this task force is to recruit experts from different fields to serve and to make sure everything is done fairly from voting rights to content policies.
Focus on Policies
This task force will focus on creating new policies against hate speech and different sort of policies on advertisements to protect the morality of elections and 2020 censure.In December 2018, the first installment was published and the third and the last report is expected in the first half of the next year.
The focus of this force is to get feedback from the Civil rights community and address the major issues they’ve raised so that Facebook can be a platform to protect and promote civil rights of its all users.
Tensions between Facebook and civil rights groups
On various occasions, Facebook was accused to censor conservative voices even President Donald Trump stated these issues as well.The struggles between Facebook and civil rights groups started last year when the New York Times reported that PR firm Definers Public Affairs tried to discredit Facebook’s critics by liking them to George Soros, a Jewish billionaire accused of anti-Semitic and various conspiracy theories for progressive causes. This audit resulted in the policy changes at Facebook, which has more than 2.3 billion users around the world.
Facebook improving its technology
Over the past years and with various incidents Facebook is always trying to update its policies to reduce the issues faced in the past. The AI of Facebook is getting better to recognize hate speech on its own.According to a report, it stated that in March Facebook removed more than 65% of hate speech on its own before the user reported it, more than double the 24% from December 2017.
Facebook building a culture to protect civil rights
In addition to the task force, the company will also provide different civil right trainings to its employees working on similar products and policies. The training is meant to increase awareness of civil rights issues and turn them into decisions.Facebook is trying hard to make changes and to help create a platform that promotes and protects civil rights.
Photo: AP
Read next: Facebook Announces a Policy to Differentiate Between Deepfakes and Fake News
