Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#31

Post by verbify » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

helloindia wrote: post #28

ardy42 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don't see why Facebook is blamed for this. That ethnic tension was present way before Facebook even existed. I think it's because they were given ample, clear warnings that their platform was being used to incite ethnic hatred and genocide, but chose to do nothing for years . I don't think they would be getting so nearly so much blame if they hadn't been so utterly negligent about the problem. They didn't…

I recently reported a post made in a regional language(language for which I'm sure Facebook doesn't have any translator/interpreter) as hate speech. I got a response from Facebook saying the said post doesn't violate Facebook's community guideline.

What language was that? I'm sceptical they couldn't find a translator.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#32

Post by jlebrech » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:03 AM UTC

they are too busy cracking down on peaceful criticism of Islam in the west.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#33

Post by mirko22 » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:10 AM UTC

CaptainZapp wrote: post #25

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly this is just the way of the world. If Facebook completely blocked all access to users in Myanmar, there would still be equivalent horrors happening, just mobilized elsewhere. People like to blame/target the largest entity around as though it's job is to be mediator and police. That's taking the bad with the good. You see a similar story with the US Government often. Groups will condemn US intervention in some p…

If a company is able to censor pictures of breast feeding mothers, or even worse, of iconic historical pictures[1] on an industrial scale, they should be damn well able to moderate speech, which leads to genocide and mass murder and of which they're warned multiple times by a number of organisations. Fucking hypocrites doesn't even start to describe such behavior. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc

It's not Facebook that leads to genocide, and you don't need Internet to commit ethnic cleansing... Otherwise Balkans would never happen.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#34

Post by intended » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:15 AM UTC

_vertigo wrote: post #30

tomc1985 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is riding in on its royal horses trying to connect (read: own the primary means of communication) the world like all the classically imperialist westerners before them. The first thing they teach you in international business and/or marketing is that cultural considerations will destroy you if you do not devote effort to addressing them. If, in building a hyperlocal product (like facebook), you do not take t…

Wonder how it would have gone over if Facebook had just said from the outset, “We’re not entering Asian markets yet because they’re too culturally different than us.” Bet people would have really liked that.

“We will be gradually entering markets as we develop products sensitized to the needs of our hyper local users.”

That Would have sold like iPhones.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#35

Post by intended » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:18 AM UTC

CaptainZapp wrote: post #25

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly this is just the way of the world. If Facebook completely blocked all access to users in Myanmar, there would still be equivalent horrors happening, just mobilized elsewhere. People like to blame/target the largest entity around as though it's job is to be mediator and police. That's taking the bad with the good. You see a similar story with the US Government often. Groups will condemn US intervention in some p…

If a company is able to censor pictures of breast feeding mothers, or even worse, of iconic historical pictures[1] on an industrial scale, they should be damn well able to moderate speech, which leads to genocide and mass murder and of which they're warned multiple times by a number of organisations. Fucking hypocrites doesn't even start to describe such behavior. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc

As much as I would like to join the FB bashing - I must not because it would be at the cost of solutions to the real problem.

MODDING is HARD. It scales like shit, and people regularly find ways to screw with algorithms.

It’s fractal complexity: you end up spending many many hours of compute for not moving the needle.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#36

Post by jlebrech » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:23 AM UTC

jlebrech wrote: post #32

they are too busy cracking down on peaceful criticism of Islam in the west.

down votes to this are proof the peaceful discussion is futile.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#37

Post by lawlessone » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:24 AM UTC

verbify wrote: post #31

helloindia wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently reported a post made in a regional language(language for which I'm sure Facebook doesn't have any translator/interpreter) as hate speech. I got a response from Facebook saying the said post doesn't violate Facebook's community guideline.

What language was that? I'm sceptical they couldn't find a translator.

I'm skeptical they would bother even if they could.

At the best they probably machine learning translated it and have no idea what the text really meant.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#38

Post by dingo_bat » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:34 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#39

Post by yorwba » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:37 AM UTC

mango7283 wrote: post #29

ardy42 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It sets a problematic precedent if Facebook throws 100s of - hard to find, hard to pay and hard to support - native language local reviewers at every place where Facebook could be abused. In what way is that a problematic precedent? Their negligence contributed to ethnic cleansing and genocide. If a multi-billion dollar company is too cheap to hire local staff to watch its platform, it shouldn't operate a localized…

Um wait you don't need a localised version of Facebook to type in a local language, you just need unfiltered internet... Or do you mean FB should prohibit sign ups from arbitrary countries?

Just yesterday I watched a Chinese woman on a flight from Beijing to Moscow struggle with the onboard entertainment system because it was only available in Russian and English, and I realized how much shared cultural context is necessary to operate even simple apps in a foreign language.

If Facebook didn't have a version localized to Burmese, it would never have gotten widespread enough in Myanmar to be a significant part of the problem.

Re: Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

#40

Post by CaptainZapp » Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 9:47 AM UTC

mirko22 wrote: post #33

CaptainZapp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a company is able to censor pictures of breast feeding mothers, or even worse, of iconic historical pictures[1] on an industrial scale, they should be damn well able to moderate speech, which leads to genocide and mass murder and of which they're warned multiple times by a number of organisations. Fucking hypocrites doesn't even start to describe such behavior. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc

It's not Facebook that leads to genocide, and you don't need Internet to commit ethnic cleansing... Otherwise Balkans would never happen.

Sure,

But being informed in 2013 that your platform is a conduit for mass killings and not doing much about it for five years unless it becomes a PR issue makes you culpable to the atrocity.

EDIT : Clarified duration of inactivity