FB Removes 7 Million Posts Related to Coronavirus Misinformation in Q2

Since the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, false news started to propagate on nearly all social media websites. Facebook saw the most number of posts sharing false information about COVID-19 due to which the company removed 7 million posts in Q2.

Facebook published the data as part of its sixth Community Standards Enforcement Report, which it first introduced back in 2018 along with more strict rules in reply to a backlash regarding its lax approach to policing content on its platforms.

FB Removes 7 Million Posts Related to Coronavirus Misinformation in Q2

Facebook told that it would invite proposals from experts to audit the metrics used in the report, beginning in 2021. The company assigned to the audit during a July ad boycott over hate speech practices. Facebook removed nearly 22.5 million posts with hate speech in the second quarter, a climactic increase from 9.6 million in the Q1. It credited the jump to advancements in detection technology.

The platform also removed 8.7 million posts related to “terrorist” organizations, compared with 6.3 million in the last period. The company does not reveal changes in the pervasiveness of hateful content on its platforms, which according to civil rights groups make reports on its removal less meaningful.

The company said that it depends more heavily on automation for reviewing content as it had fewer people to review at its offices due to the Coronavirus pandemic. That resulted in limited action against content related to self-harm and child sexual exploitation.

Facebook’s Vice President, Guy Rosen said,

It’s graphic content that honestly at home it’s very hard for people to moderate, with people around them. Facebook said it was expanding its hate speech policy to include “content depicting blackface, or stereotypes about Jewish people controlling the world.

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