AP, May 3, 2017 – Facebook says it will hire another 3,000 people to review videos of crime and suicides following murders shown live, the company’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday.
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, said the new workers will be in addition to the 4,500 people who already review posts that may violate its terms of service.
The announcement represents an acknowledgement by Facebook that, at least for now, it needs more than automated software to improve monitoring of broadcasts on Facebook Live, a service that has been marred since its launch last year by instances of people streaming violence.
Facebook has been criticized recently for not doing enough to prevent videos – such as a murder in Cleveland and a killing of a baby in Thailand — from spreading on its service.
Videos and posts that glorify violence are against Facebook’s rules. But in most cases they’re only reviewed and possibly removed if users report them.
News reports and posts that condemn violence are allowed. This makes for a tricky balancing act for the company.
