Human rights groups say Facebook is stifling an independent report it commissioned to investigate hate speech on its services in India, the company’s largest market by customers and where scrutiny of its operations is increasing.
Representatives for the organizations say they have provided extensive input to a U.S. law firm that Facebook commissioned in mid-2020 to undertake the report. The groups say they supplied hundreds of examples of inflammatory content and suggested ways Facebook could better police its services in India.
Facebook executives from the company’s human rights team, which is overseeing the law firm’s effort, have since narrowed the draft report’s scope and are delaying a process that has already taken more than a year, the groups say.
“They are trying to kill it,” said Ratik Asokan of India Civil Watch International, one of the organizations that provided the law firm with input. Mr. Asokan said that Facebook has raised technical objections through the law firm that have caused delays, such as changing definitions of what can be considered hate speech and included in the report, undermining what Facebook said would be an independent study. The law firm hasn’t provided a timeline for completing it, he said.
— Read on www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-is-stifling-independent-report-on-its-impact-in-india-human-rights-groups-say-11636725601
Tag: Facebook
Eight things we learned from the Facebook Papers – The Verge
Leaked by Frances Haugen, the Facebook Papers (or Facebook Files) show the chaotic internal workings of Facebook and the often alarming choices of Mark Zuckerberg.
— Read on www.theverge.com/22740969/facebook-files-papers-frances-haugen-whistleblower-civic-integrity
In 2019, Almost All of Facebook’s Top Christian Pages Were Run By Foreign Troll Farms – RELEVANT
These groups, based largely in Kosovo and Macedonia, have been particularly successful when it comes to targeting American Christians. Though they split their efforts among multiple pages, they are mostly operated by the same groups. Collectively, their Christian Facebook pages reach about 75 million users a month — an audience 20 times the size of the next largest Christian Facebook page.
— Read on www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tech-gaming/almost-all-of-facebooks-top-christian-pages-are-run-by-foreign-troll-farms/
New Vaccine Conspiracy Theories Are Going Viral in Arabic | WIRED
Facebook has been criticized for failing to curb misinformation in English. But little attention has been paid to the scale of the problem in Arabic.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/new-vaccine-conspiracy-theories-going-viral-arabic/
Facebook Staff Fret Over China’s Ads Portraying Happy Muslims in Xinjiang – WSJ
Beijing is a big user of the platform to spread its political views to hundreds of millions of people overseas, prompting workers to express concerns internally.
— Read on www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-staff-fret-over-chinas-ads-portraying-happy-muslims-in-xinjiang-11617366096