Facebook has announced that it will hire 3,000 new employees to comb the site for acts of violence and hate, including both live video and video posts.
Facebook has been at the forefront of pushing live video features on both its core site as well as its acquisitions – Instagram, for example – but a consequence of that has been the proliferation of broadcasted violence and hate crimes.
Just last month, for example, Facebook dealt with its first ever ‘Live Murder’ – in which US citizen Steve Stephens allegedly carried out the premeditated murder of Robert Godwin Sr, a 74-year-old resident of Cleveland.
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In a bid to more effectively comb the site for acts of violence, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that 3,000 new employees will join an incumbent team of 4,500 who have the task of monitoring not only regular posts, but further video posts and live video broadcasts.
Zuckerberg further offered that Facebook would continue to work with local law enforcement agencies to assist someone contemplating suicide, and cited one case where the company has able to prevent a man from taking his own life. The CEO added that, in some cases, the company ‘wasn’t so fortunate’.
Eric Hippeau, the managing partner at Lerer Hippaeu Ventures, offered that the move indicates that Facebook is struggling to adapt and use its algorithms to find and remove posts relating to violence – citing that “What it shows is the algos cannot do the work of a human editor.”
While Facebook’s hope is clear and the goal of keeping the prevalence of violence and acts of hate to an absolute minimum on the site, it remains to be seen just how effective the company’s new hire – and substantially larger team – will be at combing the breadth of the social media site and minimising harmful posts.
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Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
