In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, U.S. Attorney’s have called on Facebook to offer live responses to hate speech. The attorneys general for 19 states and the District of Columbia pointed out that the company has made progress but can do more.
As reported by Engadget the letter Facebook is at “just the beginning of what is necessary.” Facebook has found itself in trouble in July with many advertisers boycotted the company.
This forced Facebook to issue a response which stated the company „does not benefit from hate”. The company also has issues in that its promised 'oversight board’ will not be ready until late this year despite cries for its use in the Presidential election.
U.S. Attorney’s urge Facebook to do more on hate speech
The letter itself is based on a survey commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League. It found that more than 40 per cent of Americans have experienced some form of online harassment. This includes forms of cyberstalking, doxxing and swatting.
The survey also found that more three-quarters of those people said they’ve been harassed on Facebook. harassment is defined as being targeted for “characteristics protected by the civil rights laws”.
Attorney General calls for live responses to hate
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal specifically called on Facebook. He pointed out that the company’s platforms are“the biggest vehicles out there for spreading hate and disinformation”.
Grewal has faced hate himself on the platform as a Sikh. He also notified the social network about a New Jersey group dedicated towards driving out Orthodox Jews from a particular area.
It took the company over ten months to remove the group. He noted that „this is a platform where hate and disinformation spreads like wildfire in minutes.”
The letter, therefore, recommends Facebook should set up a hotline offering live real-time assistance. This could be especially useful for victims of doxxing. This is because it could prevent personal information from being out there for too long.
Officials also called on Facebook to make information about harassment and intimidation more readily available. They call urged the company to strengthen its filtering, removing and blocking tools. Most of this was centred in being able to take swift action.
Facebook has responded and pointed out that it took action against 9.6 million pieces of content in the first quarter this year. In June, the company took down 500 Facebook accounts and more than 300 Instagram accounts related to hate groups.
However, the company failed its own audit over civil rights and hate speech decisions. The auditors criticized the company for placing freedom of expression above preventing hate speech.
Clearly, Facebook has a long way to go to solve its responses to hate speech. The calls are growing ever louder for the company to take meaningful action. Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com