Meta, Formerly Facebook, Gives Estimate of Bullying, Harassment on Its Platforms for First Time

Meta, previously often called Fb, for the primary time on Tuesday disclosed the prevalence of bullying and harassment on its platform, saying such content material was seen between 14 and 15 occasions per each 10,000 views on the location within the third quarter.

The corporate, which not too long ago modified its title to Meta, additionally mentioned in its quarterly content material moderation report that bullying and harassment content material was seen between 5 and 6 occasions per 10,000 views of content material on Instagram.

The social media large, lengthy underneath scrutiny over its dealing with of abuses on its companies, has been within the highlight after a former worker and whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked inside paperwork that embody analysis and discussions about Instagram’s results on the psychological well being of teenagers and on whether or not Meta’s platforms stoke divisions.

Haugen has mentioned the paperwork present the corporate picked earnings over consumer security. Meta disputed this characterization, saying the paperwork had been getting used to color a “false image.”

The paperwork, which had been first reported by the Wall Avenue Journal, have spurred requires Meta to be extra clear and have raised questions over whether or not metrics similar to prevalence give the complete image of how the corporate handles abuses.

Meta mentioned its bullying and harassment numbers solely captured cases the place the corporate didn’t want further info, similar to a report from a consumer, to determine if the content material broke its guidelines.

They mentioned that of the 9.2 million items of content material the corporate faraway from Meta for breaking its bullying and harassment guidelines, it discovered 59.4 % proactively.

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“Bullying and harassment is a singular problem and one of the crucial advanced points to deal with as a result of context is crucial,” the corporate’s international head of security, Antigone Davis, and product administration director Amit Bhattacharyya mentioned in a weblog publish.

© Thomson Reuters 2021