Facebook 'Unwilling' To Combat Hate Speech, Civil Rights Groups Say

Facebook is allegedly unwilling to combat hate speech on its platform, according to civil rights groups. On Tuesday, Facebook’s top executives met with civil rights groups to address concerns about its hate speech policies.

Facebook has been under fire for its failure to take strong action against hate speech. Since last month, several big brands have been pulling out their ads from Facebook in support of the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, a massive Facebook ad boycott that aims to combat hate speech on social media.

On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives met with the leaders of civil rights groups NAACP, Color of Change, Free Press, and the Anti-Defamation League to talk about Facebook’s next steps to fight hate speech on the platform.

The civil rights groups discussed 10 specific demands with the Facebook executives, which included commissioning a C-suite-level executive with civil rights expertise, conducting public and independent civil rights audits, modifying Facebook’s moderation policies on hate speech and misinformation, refunding advertisers whose ads include hate speech and having a life customer support for Facebook users experiencing hate or harassment.

According to the groups, Facebook only addressed hiring a civil rights expert but showed no attempt to address the other demands. “Instead of actually responding to the demands of dozens of the platform’s largest advertisers that have joined the #StopHateforProfit ad boycott during the month of July, Facebook wants us to accept the same old rhetoric, repackaged as a fresh response,” said the groups.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt described the meeting as a disappointment, saying they “saw little and heard just about nothing.” “We didn’t get commitments or time frames or clear outcomes. We expected specifics, and that’s not what we heard,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Facebook representative refuted claims that their camp was not taking enough action to combat hate speech. “This meeting was an opportunity for us to hear from the campaign organizers and reaffirm our commitment to combating hate on our platform,” said the representative. “They want Facebook to be free of hate speech and so do we. That’s why it’s so important that we work to get this right,” he added.

Facebook has previously invested people and financial resources into fighting hate speech, introduced policies to address misinformation, and banned hate groups. However, the company said it would not follow every recommendation of the civil rights groups.