Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook executives
deliberately “weakened or blocked” efforts to address and correct systematic
soft


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Tech & Terrorism: Facebook Blocks Measures Aimed At Curbing Presence Of
Extremist Groups

(New York, N.Y.) – Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported
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that Facebook executives deliberately “weakened or blocked” efforts to address
and correct systematic software flaws after discovering its algorithms were
facilitating the growth of extremist groups on the platform. The determination
was made in an internal review in 2016, which the Journal reports included
findings that “64 percent of all extremist group joins are due to our
[Facebook’s] recommendation tools” and that most of the activity came from the
platform’s own “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” algorithms. The company
report also found extremist material to be “thriving in more than one-third of
German political groups” active on the platform.

Despite the presented evidence, Facebook declined to address the problem. This
disconnect once again calls into question the company’s credibility and its
commitment to removing dangerous content from its platform.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s report, Spiders of the Caliphate:
Mapping the Islamic State's Global Support Network on Facebook
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, details howISIS <[link removed]> followers work
to exploit Facebook to host meetings, link to terrorist propaganda, and
organize. CEP observed and documented activities such as the posting of
full-length propaganda videos that were viewed thousands of times before
removal and pro-ISIS Facebook users working to hack non-ISIS accounts to share
ISIS propaganda and post hateful and threatening messages. A group of American
ISIS supporters held weekly “meetings” on Facebook Live to discuss topics
ranging from ISIS’s ideology to avoiding detection by the FBI.

Most concerning, however, was that Facebook’s suggested friends algorithm
actively helped connect ISIS supporters and build extremist networks by
promoting extremist profiles. In these instances, ISIS supporters and even
active fighters appeared as suggested friends when a limited number of ISIS
profiles were friended, or in the most extreme cases, no ISIS profiles were
friended at all. Facebook, in its desire to connect as many people as possible,
inadvertently created a system which helps connects extremists and terrorists.

CEP has routinely highlighted Facebook’s lack of transparency and
accountability when it comes to the removal of extremist material. For years,
CEP hasdisputed
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that Facebook deletes 99 percent of
extremist content from its platform and hashighlighted
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the company’s efforts to mislead the public when it comes to the efficacy of
its content moderation efforts. The 99 percent removal rate was further called
into question when a May 2019 Associated Pressinvestigation
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to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that in reality,
Facebook’s extremist content removal rate was just 38 percent, not 99 percent.

To read CEP’s report, Spiders Of The Caliphate: Mapping The Islamic State’s
Global Support Network On Facebook, please click here
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.

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