Facebook launches campaign to drive out hate speech

Facebook claimed that because of advances in technology, it "proactively detects about 95% of the hate speech content that is removed from the platform".

Facebook has vowed to tackle hate speech in Ireland, launching a new abuse reporting method on newsfeeds today.

While acknowledging that it has allowed users to be exposed to reams of abuse over the years, Facebook Ireland claimed it has expanded policies to provide greater protections.

Critics of Facebook globally have claimed that the multi-billion dollar firm has taken action far too late in the day to combat hate, violence, and disinformation, with the recent insurrection at the US capitol building being allowed to foment on the platform cited as one example. 

Facebook Ireland said an educational video on identifying hate speech, stopping it, and reporting it will roll out across newsfeeds from today. 

The social media giant claimed it does not allow attacks against any person or group of people based on certain characteristics, like their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

If someone uses a known derogatory word to describe a person based on any of those characteristics, that is hate speech, the company said.

Users can now click the three dots next to a post that they would like to report as hate speech. 

Facebook claimed that because of advances in technology, it "proactively detects about 95% of the hate speech content that is removed from the platform".

That claim has been countered by critics, who insist not enough has been done to combat the sheer scale of such abuse, which is still prevalent.

Head of public policy at Facebook Ireland, Dualta Ó Broin, said: "We have a zero-tolerance policy against hate speech but we understand that this doesn’t mean zero-occurrence. 

We have worked hard and invested substantially to put in place the right tools and technologies to identify and remove any content that contravenes our hate speech policy. 

"We are encouraged to see a strong AI detection rate and we are also encouraging our users to continue to report hate speech in order to improve and maintain the positive user experience for everyone on the platform.”

Facebook said it is working with the Irish Network Against Racism on ongoing policy development.