U.N. Agency Blasts Facebook Over Video of Migrants Being Threatened in Libya
28 August 2017 - 9:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Deepa Seetharaman
Facebook Inc. is once again in hot water for allowing
objectionable videos on its website, this time drawing a rare
rebuke from a United Nations agency.
The U.N. migration agency hammered the social network for
allowing what it said was a "horrifying" video showing gangs in
Libya threatening to harm a group of terrified migrants, many from
Somalia and Ethiopia. One migrant in the video is lying on his
chest with a concrete block on his back, and that the video shows
the faces of some migrants without their consent in a way that they
can be identified. The smugglers also are issuing threats to the
migrants' families over WhatsApp, a messaging app owned by
Facebook, according to Leonard Doyle, spokesman for the
International Organization for Migration.
Mr. Doyle said the video surfaced in June, after which his
organization issued a press release condemning it. He said that
should have prompted Facebook to take down the video.
"On what possible grounds can you show these poor, vulnerable
people?" he said in an interview, adding that it was very rare that
the U.N. agency would specifically criticize Facebook in this
manner. Facebook officials reached out to his agency on Friday to
discuss the issue after the Times of London published a story on
the video, but the company as of Sunday hadn't removed the
video.
Facebook said it allowed the video to stay up because the
footage was shared by a journalist to shed light on human rights
violations around the world. The company said part of its role is
to be a place where its more than 2 billion monthly users can raise
awareness about important issues.
"This specific video was posted to condemn smuggling and raise
aware (awareness) of the issue, so we would not consider it a
violation of our policies," a Facebook spokeswoman said in an
email. "We realize the video is disturbing so we have added a
warning screen and the video's distribution will be limited to
those aged 18 and over."
The episode marks the latest in a string of examples of
Facebook's video tools being used to promote and showcase violence
and revives questions about Facebook's handling of sensitive
videos.
Earlier this year, Facebook was widely criticized by users and
civil rights groups for allowing violent videos to be broadcast
live on its platform, including one showing a man in Cleveland
committing murder and one of a man in Thailand murdering his baby
daughter.
Mr. Doyle said that Facebook has been slow to take down pages on
its service run by smugglers trying to reach "vulnerable" people in
Somalia and Ethiopia, trying to secure safe passage to Europe.
Mr. Doyle said Facebook should move faster and be more proactive
in looking for instances where users are using Facebook to exploit
vulnerable people. "Now that you're reaching people, you actually
have a responsibility to inform them that not everyone they meet on
Facebook is their friend," Mr. Doyle said.
"Offering services to take part in, support or promote people
smuggling on Facebook is against our community standards," the
Facebook spokeswoman said in the email.
Content moderation experts say it is difficult for tech
companies to uphold their standards because of the sheer amount of
content posted online every day and the comparatively small number
of content reviewers at the company. In May, Facebook said it would
add 3,000 content monitors to review what is being posted
online.
Mr. Doyle, echoing other critics, said Facebook has an "absolute
responsibility" to invest the resources required to handle the wide
range of sensitive issues found on Facebook.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 27, 2017 19:23 ET (23:23 GMT)
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