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Last month, the House Judiciary Committee questioned Facebook and Google on hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism online. Now, it seems German WhatsApp may be becoming a cesspool for Nazi propaganda and antisemitic groups, according to reporting from BuzzFeed. On the app, nine groups — with names like “The German Storm” and “Ku Klux Klan International” — have shared message glorifying the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler, BuzzFeed reported. Some have also attempted to incite violence through the app. WhatsApp — who is owned by Facebook — has Community Guidelines prohibiting harassment. But even when combined with Germany’s own laws against Nazi imagery, the groups haven’t been taken down. Hate speech on social media platforms has been a growing problem for years. WhatsApp was listed as the sixth most common location for online hate speech in 2018, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were the platforms who secured the top three spots. Although...
If logging on to Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platforms in the past year may have felt draining, you’re most likely not imagining it. Facebook became a cesspool for online harassment in 2018, a new survey from the Anti-Defamation League shows . More than half (56%) of the survey’s respondents said they experienced hate through Facebook. Twitter and YouTube clocked in at 19 percent and 17 percent respectively for survey participants saying they were harassed on the platforms. Photo: Anti-Defamation League According to the Anti-Defamation League , 32 percent of Americans reported that the harassment they received was because of their sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, gender identity or disability. Twitter has updated its community standards, while YouTube is now working to alter features on its products to curtail some of the negative behavior. Earlier this month, YouTube announced that it is working on ways to stop “dislike campaigns” on videos by large...
Facebook announced it is updating its Custom Audience Transparency features later this month providing users with a snapshot of why they are being targeted in ads, and when companies are downloading their data. The company said in a post that the “Why am I seeing this?” explanations will be more detailed, providing users with information on which businesses have downloaded users’ data and why. Facebook has demographic targets for its advertising that are based on a user’s profile, which includes age and gender. Its interest targeting come from pages that a user likes and follows and other ads that they have clicked on. A Facebook spokesperson said that political-related ad targeting uses “a variety of signals to determine if someone might be interested in that content.” The post also mentioned that “on behalf of” agreements may impact the update—modification will have to be made for agencies who are advertising on behalf of another business. The agreements are opt-in, which gives...
Facebook has announced revisions to its performance review system and will now critique its employees on if they are working to change social issues, according to CNBC. The company said it may be basing pay raises on other factors as well. Employees may also be reviewed on criteria such as whether they are assisting in building new experiences for the platform or supporting businesses that use Facebook as a vital resource. “So in a nutshell: Facebook’s moving from a focus on growth, to a focus on change” a representative of the company told CNBC. Previously, employee reviews were based on their performance in enhancing user growth and engagement. Pay bonuses were also contingent on if employees helped improve Facebook products and revenue. Facebook’s recent changes reflect an effort to be more cognizant of its social impacts and correct prior errors. According to CNBC, the new criteria is set to be used in the first half of 2019.
Facebook has removed 22 more pages associated with Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist whose pages have been known to spread misinformation and incite violence. Jones is mostly known for making claims that 9/11 and the Sandy Hook shooting were hoaxes. The company deleted the pages following its latest policy changes that prohibit administrators of removed pages from creating duplicates. Last month, Facebook announced it would make pages more transparent and have third-party fact checkers flagging misleading or incorrect content. The company has relied upon third-party fact-checkers during the 2018 midterm elections to stop the spread of misinformation about polling locations, times and dates. Facebook’s update also covers administrators using other existing pages once their pages have been removed. Not all of the 22 newly removed pages had Jones as a direct administrator; however, there were many common administrators between those pages and the pages removed in August. Facebook began...
Common Ground was set to be Facebook’s way of getting users on opposing sides of the political spectrum to have civil conversations on the platform until the company’s longtime global policy chief Joel Kaplan nixed the idea. According to reports by the Wall Street Journal , Kaplan was worried the feature could be biased against conservative Facebook users and played a key role in making sure it never saw the light of day. Kaplan and other executives were uncertain on how Common Ground would impact user engagement on the platform. Common Ground’s goal was to bring users together from different backgrounds and political views and encourage less hostile conversations. You may remember Kaplan, who sat behind his longtime friend Brett Kavanaugh during the judge’s congressional hearing as he gave testimony about sexual assault allegations brought forth against him by Christine Blasey Ford. Facebook employees saw this as a sign that Kaplan supported Kavanaugh, and the company was forced to...