An independent audit faulted the social network for allowing hate speech and disinformation to thrive — potentially posing a threat to the November elections.

Auditors handpicked by Facebook to examine its policies said that the company had not done enough to protect people on the platform from discriminatory posts. Furthermore, Facebook negatively influencing American voters. Now Facebook has to decide whether its approach to hateful speech and noxious content — which was to leave it alone in the name of free expression — remains tenable. Facebook is not an arbiter of truth and it would not police politicians’ posts. In the audit, Facebook was repeatedly faulted for prioritizing free expression on its platform over nondiscrimination, and for not having a robust infrastructure to handle civil rights. The auditors pointed to extremist and white nationalist content, as well as to hate organizations, saying Facebook needed to do more to identify and remove them from its site.


Author: Mike Isaac

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/technology/facebook-civil-rights-audit.html