New Delhi: Facebook is making money through white supremacist groups placing ads on searches for dangerous groups like the “Ku Klux Klan” despite a ban on such content on the platform. A report by the Tech Transparency Project revealed that more than 80 white supremacist groups have a presence on Facebook, including some that Facebook has labeled as “dangerous organizations.”
“What’s more, when our test user searched for the names of white supremacist groups on Facebook, the search results were often monetized with ads — which means that Facebook’s ads are not being used,” the nonprofit organization said in a late statement. profiting from them.” Wednesday. (Also read: Sensex rises 580 points in early trade, Nifty above 17,650)
The study found that ads appeared on 40 percent of questions from white supremacist groups. (Also Read: Gold Price Today, August 11: Gold Get Cheaper On Raksha Bandhan, Check Price In Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Kolkata, Kanpur, Kerala, Other Cities)
“This is a cool result, given that the gunman who killed 10 people in the recent racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, targeted neighborhoods with a high proportion of black residents,” the study said. Did the research to choose.”
The investigation also found that, despite years of warnings that Facebook’s algorithmic tools are pushing users to extremism, the platform continues to auto-generate pages for white supremacist organizations and direct users who use white lines for other extremist content. Go to the Supremacist page.
In addition, Facebook is largely failing in its attempt to redirect users searching for hate words to websites that promote tolerance, the report noted.
The analysis found that more than a third (37 percent) of 226 white supremacist groups had a presence on Facebook.
These organizations are associated with a total of 119 Facebook pages and 20 Facebook groups.
“Facebook often monetizes searches for these groups, even if their names are clearly associated with white supremacy, such as ‘American Defense Skinheads’,” the report said.
Facebook also monetized search for groups on its “dangerous organizations” list.
The discovery of some white supremacist groups, including those with “Ku Klux Klan” in their names, showed ads for Black churches, raising concerns that Facebook was exposing potential targets for extremists.
“Facebook’s algorithmic recommendations often direct users visiting white supremacist pages to other extremist or hateful content,” the report said.
A spokesperson for Meta said that 270 groups designated by the company as white supremacist organizations have been banned from Facebook.
“We will continue to work with outside experts and organizations in an effort to stay ahead of violent, hateful and terrorism-related content and remove such content from our platforms,” the social network said. In 2020, more than 1,000 advertisers boycotted Facebook over its handling of hate speech and misinformation.