BackFacebook will review content policies in the wake of protests: Zuckerberg
'We're exploring the following areas, which fit into three categories: ideas related to specific policies, ideas related to decision-making, and proactive initiatives to advance racial justice and voter engagement'
PremiumNEW DELHI: After widespread criticism over the way Facebook dealt with US President Donald Trump’s posts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on Saturday said the company will review its content policies.
“I know many of you think we should have labeled the President’s posts in some way last week," Zuckerberg said through a long Facebook post that he also sent to the company’s employees.
“Based on feedback from employees, civil rights experts and subject matter experts internally, we're exploring the following areas, which fit into three categories: ideas related to specific policies, ideas related to decision-making, and proactive initiatives to advance racial justice and voter engagement," he added.
Facebook will review potential options for handling violating or partially-violating content aside from the binary leave-it-up or take-it-down decisions, he said.
The company is also going to review “policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force" and consider amendments to them if possible. Policies around voter suppression will also be reviewed to take into account “voting in the midst of a pandemic". Additionally, Zuckerberg says Facebook will work on creating more transparent and clearer decision-making processes.
“I agree with the feedback from many of you that we should have a more transparent process about how we weigh the different values and equities at stake, including safety and privacy," he wrote in his post. The CEO outlined seven areas of focus that his company will be looking at going forward.
Facebook has faced backlash during the Black Lives Matter protests going on in the US now. The company’s CEO especially has been criticized for not taking down posts by Trump, which many say can incite violence and mislead people. Zuckerberg though has refused to be the “arbiter of truth" and let such posts stay up, even when rival platform Twitter has put warning labels on them and Snapchat decided to stop promoting the President’s account on its Discover feed.
On June 4, the company announced it will start labelling posts from state-owned media publications. It will also label ads from these publishers later this year, so that people know where their information is coming from.
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