Facebook’s language gaps weaken screening of hate, terrorism

By ISABEL DEBRE and FARES AKRAM
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Across the Middle East, journalists, activists and others have long accused Facebook of censoring their speech. In India and Myanmar, political groups use the social network to incite violence. All of it frequently slips through Facebook’s efforts to police its social media platforms because of a shortage of moderators who speak local languages and understand cultural contexts. Now, internal company documents from the former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen show the problems plaguing the company’s content moderation are systemic, and that Facebook has understood them for years while doing little about it. The company says it has invested in language and topical expertise in recent years but concedes that Arabic content moderation remains a particular concern.