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A resident stands in front of devastated houses and a burned-out house in New Delhi in February 2020 (archive image)
Photo: SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP
The US internet giant Facebook is under pressure because of further revelations about its handling of incidents of violence and fake news in the important Indian market. As reported by several US media over the weekend, citing internal company documents, the group had failed to contain false information and hate messages in its Indian platforms despite the advice of its own analysts. Facebook was aware that the weak moderation of its platforms is prone to abuse.
According to the revelations, Facebook analysts in India had seen a sharp increase in "rumors and calls to violence" in the months after December 2019. During this period, religious protests rocked India, and according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the inflammatory content rose 300 percent over the previous level at times. It was particularly bad on the Facebook news service WhatsApp in February 2020, when numerous people died in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in India. The group then sent researchers to India to talk to users about their experiences with the platform's algorithm.
In February 2019, scientists had also created a fictitious Facebook profile of a 21-year-old user in northern India.
Without the help of the researchers, the profile was flooded with “propaganda” for the Hindu nationalist head of government Narendra Modi and “hate speech against Muslims”, reported the “Washington Post” from an internal memo.
"I've seen more pictures of the dead in the past three weeks than in my entire life," wrote the researcher who led the experiment, according to the New York Times.
Facebook announces that it will take action against hate messages
India is the largest market for Facebook in terms of user numbers.
According to media reports, however, internal documents showed that most of the budget was devoted to combating disinformation, even though it accounts for less than 10 percent of users.
A company spokesman said the company had stepped up its fight against hate speech in non-English languages.
"Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is increasing worldwide," and Facebook is "improving the enforcement of its rules" to take this into account, the spokesman said.
Facebook has already been accused by the former product manager Frances Haugen of putting its own profits above the safety of people and in doing so accepting devastating consequences for people, democracy and society.
Another informant followed suit last week and reported, according to the Washington Post, of internal discussions in which the alleged interference by Russia in the US presidential election in 2016 was downplayed via Facebook's services.
Facebook has firmly denied the allegations.
However, the revelations have intensified calls for stricter regulation of Facebook and Internet companies as a whole.
tfb / AFP
