Misinformation, hatred and emotional exploitation have always been favourite tools of instigators, miscreants and cults. Recently revealed Facebook Papers indicate that social media has become an important channel for utilizing those tools.
The Facebook Papers, scrutinized by more than a dozen news organizations, indicate a systemic problem at policy and technical levels. Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who disclosed those Papers who testified before the US Congress and British Parliament states, “The company (Facebook) was aware of the spread of misinformation and hate content worldwide, from Vietnam and Myanmar to India and US”.
This spread of misinformation and hatred through digital means exists for Pakistan. There were 46 million social media users in Pakistan in January 2021, which is equivalent to 20.6% of the total population.
With a temptingly growing market, Facebook seems to be laser-focused on growth and profits instead of regulating the user-generated content, the real source of its income. A Next Billion Network multi-country study reveals that Facebook dismissed ‘large volumes of legitimate complaints, including death threats, in Pakistan, Myanmar and India.
An audit posted by a Facebook employee in June 2020 mentioned a ‘massive gap’ in coverage of ‘at-risk countries’ and that the Facebook algorithm couldn’t parse the local language in Pakistan, Myanmar and Ethiopia.
Facebook’s community standards were not even translated into Urdu, the national language...
Read Full Story: https://dailytimes.com.pk/848397/curbing-hate-speech-on-social-media/
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