Experts: Facebook Must Do More To Control Violent Posts

Stop ViolenceFacebook itself said it needs to do a better job controlling violent content on its pages. Many prominent experts and academics agree, even going so far as to call out the site for focusing on the collection of our personal data instead of our protection.

While Facebook may want to step up its efforts to detect violent posts, like the spate of recent horrific crimes that have been streamed on Facebook Live, experts question whether it’s even possible. Artificial Intelligence hasn’t reached a point where it can accurately survey content at the scale Facebook would need it to. There is also the very real concern of whether we would want AI to analyze our photos and videos to that degree at all.

However, some experts are more cynical about Facebook’s motives, noting the site has no problem developing new ways to gather our data.

“I don’t think Facebook is putting enough effort in,” Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College, said. “They put a huge amount of effort into data mining. They put a huge amount of effort into advertising. They put a huge amount of effort into the latest features, like Live. And I think the efforts that are going into really making sure these platforms are safe are much, much less.”

With public pressure mounting, it’s becoming clear Facebook will need to address the problems it’s had with Facebook Live sooner rather than later.