Facebook said it was investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence to monitor bad content which trigger hatred, clashes and dangerous activities in Sri Lanka because the reporting of such content within the country is low.
“Artificial Intelligence is used to proactively flag posts that break the rules,” it said in a statement issued in response to the Sunday Observer query as to whether the social media platform was taking precautions after the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the senseless clashes which ensued in several places targeting Muslim businesses.
Facebook says the rate at which bad content is reported in Sri Lanka, whether it’s hate speech or misinformation, is low. The safeguards had been introduced much before the Easter Sunday attacks.
Late last year, Facebook has expanded automatic machine translation to Sinhala to help them better detect content which violates their policy and expand access to the products and services offered on their platform.
Facebook and other social media platforms are used by extremists for malicious purposes as well as by activists for good causes. It has been reported that millions of rupees have been raised by individuals and UNICEF to support victims of the Easter Sunday massacres via Facebook.
The Facebook statement said it immediately designated the Easter Sunday attack as an act of terrorism and it banned the individuals and organisations involved in the attack. As a result any content that praises or supports the attack or those involved are being identified and removed. It said that, as a responsible social media platform they were coordinating with civil society organisations in Sri Lanka and fact-checking partners in the region including AFP, its third-party fact-checking partner in Asia, to help identify misinformation that has the potential to contribute to imminent violence or physical harm in Sri Lanka. Immediately after the terror attacks and follow up incidents, the Government blocked social media and messaging apps as a measure to curb provocative and extremist propaganda being circulated.
Last week, China pledged support to monitor social media platforms in Sri Lanka to counter terror activities in response to a request by President Maithripala Sirisena.