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We'll look at the ways in which digital products can harbor unsafe content, misinformation, and harassment.
Further Reading:
- Community Standards - Facebook
- Volksverhetzung - German law protecting against hate speech
- Facebook Runs Up Against German Hate Speech Laws - NY Times
- Facebook's Hate Speech Algorithms Leave Out Some Languages - Time
- Defining "Online Harassment": A Glossary of Terms [trigger warning]
- Twitch reckons with sexual assault as it begins permanently suspending streamers - The Verge
- Behind the Screen - book by Sarah T. Roberts
- Block Party app - online harassment tool (now a Chrome Extension)
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MICHELLE: Apps with user-generated content
often rely on user policing.
0:00
On Facebook, you can report
inappropriate or abusive content.
0:04
The content review team reviews
the offending content and
0:09
conducts disciplinary action if it
is deemed to violate the policies.
0:12
The burden of finding harmful content
is shifted to users because Facebook
0:17
doesn't want the responsibility of
proactively policing it themselves.
0:21
But content moderation
is a colossal task and
0:26
unsafe content can trigger
the people reporting it.
0:29
In the book Behind the Screen, Sarah T.
Roberts explores the emotional toll that
0:33
content moderators endure as they review
thousands of offensive material daily.
0:39
According to a speech
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave in 2019,
0:45
there is some preemptive action.
0:49
Facebook's AI systems identify
99% of the terrorist content
0:52
which is blocked before anyone sees it.
0:57
Per Facebook's reporting,
80% of all hate speech acted on
1:00
by their platform was flagged
by algorithms in 2019.
1:04
Granted, that doesn't include user flagged
content that results in no action,
1:08
and the algorithms only cover
40 languages worldwide.
1:13
The remaining languages only
have users reporting content and
1:18
human moderators reviewing those flags.
1:22
When asked why Facebook doesn't do more to
moderate its content, Zuckerberg argues
1:25
the danger of limiting free speech as it
blocks out potentially positive voices for
1:30
social change.
1:35
Instead, he focuses on
eliminating fake accounts known
1:36
as bots that spread misinformation and
hate.
1:40
Facebook's AI systems can
now detect clusters of fake
1:44
accounts that aren't behaving like humans.
1:47
Government regulation can
force companies to do
1:51
more to manage their platform's content.
1:54
Germany has a law against hate speech,
and this has resulted in Facebook
1:56
doing extra work to filter hateful
content from users in Germany.
2:01
HOPE: Content heavy apps also struggle
with the spread of misinformation.
2:05
Twitter has begun evaluating tweets
based on their propensity for harm.
2:10
Tweets that contain potentially
misleading content such as this one
2:16
mentioning COVID-19 are labeled
with a link to trusted information.
2:20
Tweets suspected to be inaccurate,
not credible, or
2:25
have more propensity for
harm are marked with a warning.
2:29
Tweets confirmed to be false are removed.
2:33
On a final note,
2:37
online harassment is rampant across
social media apps and forums.
2:38
We don't have time to get into it,
but there's cyberstalking,
2:44
fake impersonations, catfishing,
doxxing, trolling, and so on.
2:49
Block Party is an app to
help with online harassment.
2:54
It mutes accounts on social media that
are likely to send unwanted content.
2:58
The lockout folder contains the filtered
content and is accessible anytime.
3:03
There's also the Helper View which
enables a user's friends to review their
3:09
lockout folder content and take action
on their behalf, such as blocking users.
3:15
Check out the teacher's notes for
further reading.
3:21
While many apps have anti-harassment
rules, they are inconsistently enforced.
3:24
We need better policies, procedures,
and tools to mitigate and
3:29
prevent harassment and abuse.
3:32
Even more, we need people like you
to advocate for change within.
3:34
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