Facebook's Content Moderation Woes In The Spotlight: Is The Company Even Trying?
Tech giant Facebook’s content moderation troubles are not something new.
In 2018, we saw Mark Zuckerberg invite dozens of professors and academicians to former dinners held at his residence where he wished to discuss more details on how to keep his apps safe from the growing figures of disinformation.
This was the election period at the time and a moment when fake facts were on the rise and people were suffering from graphic material uploads, unwanted debates, hate speech, violence, and much material that really did not tickle a lot of people’s fancy.
Other than such secret meetings, we saw tech giant Facebook making announcements more regularly in terms of how many millions it was spending on the likes of hiring human content moderators. Its goal was to make the app a bigger and safer place for all users to benefit from.
The app was blamed for the long list of fake news surrounding the Republicans and many claimed that was one of the major compounding factors that led to Trump’s victory in the end.
Right after that, the app chose to bring forward more reporters to better examine the election war room and explain how it was putting a lot of effort into guarding the app. The biggest ones of them all included the Oversight Board which was more like the company’s own Supreme Court for decisions that Facebook would struggle with.
While the efforts of the past are clear, the question remains today in regards to how safe the app has become right now. Remember, the CEO’s words from day one have been linked to building the safest community today and ensuring everyone still remains informed about what’s going on.
Today, it seems like things are taking a shape that perhaps many had not envisioned. We’re talking about a platform that’s overrun by the likes of AI-based spam and claims. Most people are engaged with this kind of content and bots that serve as spam for the app.
You’ll find explicitly themed material so easily pronounced on this platform while reports regarding ads promoting hacking, paid accounts, stolen credentials, and whatnot are so regularly seen that you assume they’re now a part of this platform.
To make it seem more real, the app’s own verified influencers have bodies stolen by AI experts or those fake influencers in the effort of marketing pages owned by OnlyFans that also come full of stolen material. Now that’s what we call a reality check!
Image: DIW-Aigen
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