Facebook reaffirms commitment to combat hate speech – official

Facebook says it has intensified efforts to combat the use of hate speech on its platform.

Ms Fadzai Madzingira, Content Policy Associate Manager, Facebook sub-Sahara Africa, made this known at a Facebook Content Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.

Madzingira said that in its effort to fight the use of hate speech on the platform, Facebook had over 15 thousand experts who review contents in more than 50 languages on a daily basis.

She said that hate speech created an environment of intimidation, exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence, hence it would not be allowed on the platform.

“We define hate speech as a direct attack on people based on what we call protected characteristics, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sex and serious disability among others.

“Talking on attacks we define it as violent or dehumanising speech, statement of inferiority and calls for exclusion or segregation, “Madzingira said.

She said that attacks were separated into three tiers, noting that the first tier consisted of content targeted at dehumanising a person or a group of people on the basis of their immigration status.

According to Madzingira, the second tier was targeted on a person or group of people based on their physical deficiencies, intellectual capacity and mental health among others.

“The third tier focuses on calls for segregation, explicit exclusion of the right of a person or group of people to participate in politics, economic entitlement and opportunity to gain access to spaces and social services,” she said.