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FACEBOOK HAS BLAMED the coronavirus for hampering efforts to remove suicide and self-injury posts from its platforms.
The social network revealed it took action on significantly less material containing such content between April and June because fewer reviewers were in action as the pandemic struck.
Facebook sent its moderators home in March to prevent the spread of the virus, but boss Mark Zuckerberg warned enforcement requiring human intervention could be hit.
The firm says it has since brought “many reviewers back online from home” and, where it is safe, a “smaller number into the office”.
Facebook’s latest community standards report shows that 911,000 pieces of content related to suicide and self-injury underwent action within the three-month period, versus 1.7 million pieces looked at in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile on Instagram, steps were taken against 275,000 posts compared with 1.3 million before.
Action on media featuring child nudity and sexual exploitation also fell on Instagram, from one million posts to 479,400.
Facebook estimates that less than 0.05% of views were of content that violated its standards against suicide and self-injury.
‘The most harmful content’
“Today’s report shows the impact of Covid-19 on our content moderation and demonstrates that, while our technology for identifying and removing violating content is improving, there will continue to be areas where we rely on people to both review content and train our technology,” the company said.
With fewer content reviewers, we took action on fewer pieces of content on both Facebook and Instagram for suicide and self-injury, and child nudity and sexual exploitation on Instagram.
“Despite these decreases, we prioritised and took action on the most harmful content within these categories.
“Our focus remains on finding and removing this content while increasing reviewer capacity as quickly and as safely as possible.”
The tech giant’s sixth report does suggest the automated technology is working to remove other violating posts, such as hate speech, which went from 9.6 million on Facebook in the last quarter to 22.5 million now.
Much of that material, 94.5%, was detected by artificial intelligence before a user had a chance to report it.
Proactive detection for hate speech on Instagram increased from 45% to 84%.
The data also suggests improvements on terrorism content, with action against 8.7 million pieces on Facebook this time compared with 6.3 million before – only 0.4% of this was reported by a user, while the vast bulk was picked up and removed automatically by the firm’s detection systems.
Hate speech
“We’ve made progress in combating hate on our apps, but we know we have more to do to ensure everyone feels comfortable using our services,” Facebook said.
That’s why we’ve established new inclusive teams and task forces including – the Instagram Equity Team and the Facebook Inclusive Product Council – to help us build products that are deliberately fair and inclusive and why we are launching a Diversity Advisory Council that will provide input based on lived experience on a variety of topics and issues.
“We’re also updating our policies to more specifically account for certain kinds of implicit hate speech, such as content depicting blackface, or stereotypes about Jewish people controlling the world.”
Children’s charity the NSPCC said Facebook’s “inability to act against harmful content on their platforms is inexcusable”.
“The crisis has exposed how tech firms are unwilling to prioritise the safety of children and instead respond to harm after it’s happened rather than design basic safety features into their sites to prevent it in the first place,” Dr Martha Kirby, child safety online policy manager at the NSPCC said.
“This is exactly why Government needs to urgently publish an Online Harms Bill that holds Silicon Valley directors criminally and financially accountable to UK law if they continue to put children at risk.”
Facebook has also revealed it removed more than seven million pieces of harmful coronavirus misinformation from Facebook and Instagram over the same period.
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The authorities really need to rein this practice in
If 6500 horses were slaughtered for their meat with Dept of Agriculture approval, where is the market for this meat and is it sold as stated ie horse meat for human consumption so the purchaser is aware of exactly what it is they are buying ,my concern naturally is that it is being sold as beef.Additionally what health record is kept of these animals prior to slaughter, I assume the same standards relating to beef apply and the same age profile of animals ie 36 months at slaughter is also the rule and that these animals are veterinary assessed through their lives.
@Honeybee: horse meat is popular on the continent, that’s where it usually goes from factories here. Horses are to have a record of all medications on their passports, are are listed as either on or off the human consumption lists, depending on the medications and owners preferences. They do not require testing for tb, which is the biggest testing for cattle. No age profile, as this was brought in for cattle due to the instances of bse in older stock.
@Honeybee: fact is that veterinary standards for horses going to the factory is more stringent than that of cattle
@Liam Carlin: are more stringent
Giddy up
Would want to be a very fast horse nowadays not to get eaten.
What’s a microship?
@Doz: A boat
@Peter: A very small ship
@Doz: It’s a small ferry-shaped object used subcutaneously to identify an animal; not to be confused with a microchip, a large silicon wafer used to transport people and goods between islands. Confusingly, microchips sometimes carry animals carrying microships. :)
@Doz: I think they come with pocket battleship.
We’re already eating chlorinated chicken from Brazil, just labelled “Made in Ireland” as it’s cooked, sliced, diced and packaged here.
Shergar burger anyone !!.
@tommytukamomo: A stallion should never be mixed with a scallion
It seems unbelievably crude
That the kindred of Shergar
Could get mixed in a burger
In Monaghan’s Silvercrest food
Why the long face?
Ate the goverment asleep?? And the ESB scandal went unnoticed also
Is there a health risk with eating horse meat?
@Coco86: It’s not great for the horse…
@Coco86: No, if the horse is/has been checked by Veterinary professional at time of slaughter.
@Coco86: yes, in that it’s not traceable and so is not properly regulated.
@Coco86: Yes , if the horse has been on certain medications , the horse is not considered fit for human consumption. Horses are meant to be chipped and if given those meds , that would need to be recorded on their passport .
@Coco86: it was reported on the news that the horses were unfit for human consumption hence the falsifying of paperwork.
@Coco86: ya can get the trots
Springer’s final thought;
Who was supplying incorrectly labelled horsemeat throughout Europe?
Mafia et al.
Who do they need to get rid of?
Lots of people who may negatively impact profits.
What did folk not test for in meat samples?
Human DNA.
Let that one sink in over dinner folks ;)
Well horse, how’s she cuttin’.
What’s with the long face sir? Not enjoying ur burger?
Meat products like certain foods say may contain nuts etc … Should say may contain other meats .
Does anyone actually regularly buy horse meat?
@Hardly Normal: its popular on the continent not so much here.
@Hardly Normal: I lived in Holland around 2003 and someone told me they were into it over there.. I was a vegetarian at the time so I didnt investigate it further..haha…but that’s as far as my horse eating knowledge goes..
@Hardly Normal: the belgians
It appears that the journal.ie don’t want certain establishments mentioned
Free press is certainly not alive and well where these shower are concerned
@builditnow: well let’s just say the biggest restraunt in Ireland
Have certainly brough their chickens home to roost all the way from twiwan
All the laughs and Jokes and many stupid comments above indicate that some people don’t mind if our international reputation is again destroyed and export income is lost and the result of that sort of effect means less money to pay the bills and the social welfare and all the rest of the costs of running this little Republic . Shame on those gangsters whoever They are ! It’s isn’t a laughing matter at all at all.
@Terry Cahill: Just remember that the firm which owned and operated the operation with the rotten imported Polish horse meat was owned by Europe’s biggest beef baron and he used the ensuing stink as an excuse to reduce the price he was paying to his own Irish suppliers AND GOT AWAY WITH IT.
@Terry Cahill: could not agree with you more. Why is there always some b……..ls cropping up every so often, destroying the reputation. And no heads will roll, vets, managers or owners.Saints and scholars…….
@John Mc Donagh: again same old, same old as i mentioed above
To many neigh sayers on this site.
Christ lads if ye knew where mc Donald’s are sourcing their chicken ,you never look at a chicken again
Couldn’t eat a whole one, maybe a fallabella with chips and a Coke!
Ahhh horsesh#t…
Steak Tartare ..
Expensive when you can get it
What are the odds for a bovine only burger.
Must have got the hind leg of a one from ballydoyle last night in the chipper I scorched up the town to back a looser
Is it illegal to eat horse meat?
@sb: Only if you’re an ass!
Neigh,not again
on holidays in France at the min had horse steak twice it’s bloody lovely
Here we go again!
have your say