Facebook loves to tout the power of artificial intelligence to solve its many problems. However, its own algorithm is often the thing that gets the company in the most trouble. For instance, according to a recent report from the watchdog group Tech Transparency Project (TTP), Facebook’s algorithm is still auto-generating pages for extremist groups, militias, and terrorist organizations in violation of its own policies.

Any time a Facebook user posts a job title, business, organization, interest, or location that doesn’t already have an official page, the company automatically creates a new page for it. However, that feature also has created many pages for extremist groups such as the Proud Boys that remain active on the platform for months.

“Are Facebook’s detection systems really as good as they claim, if their own systems where these explicit terms and groups are banned are actually creating pages for them?” TTP director Katie Paul said. “How can we trust what they say about safety and security when Facebook doesn’t just fail to remove, but actually creates extremist content?”

Multiple advocates and groups have called attention to this problem for years, which begs the question: why has Facebook still not done enough to stop it?

Recommended Resources

Choose what the experts use: award-winning cybersecurity you can trust and rely on.

Surf the web truly incognito. Try Bitdefender Premium VPN, the ultra-fast VPN that keeps your online identity and activities safe from hackers, ISPs and snoops.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!