Facebook failed to police abusive content globally, Report show

Currently, Facebook operates in more than 190 countries, has over "2.8 billion monthly users who post content in more than 160 languages." Facebook employees warned the company for years that it was failing to effectively respond to abusive and harmful content worldwide — including human trafficking and ethnic cleansing — and allowed it to spread particularly in developing countries, according to leaked documents and interviews with former employees. The content-moderation failures — spurred by a lack of hiring and inadequate artificial intelligence tools — have helped to spread extremist anti-Muslim rhetoric in India, sex trafficking in Dubai, ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia and Myanmar, among other travesties, according to documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen.Facebook spokesperson Mavis Jones said in a statement that the company has native speakers worldwide reviewing content in more than 70 languages, as well as experts in humanitarian and human rights issues. She said these teams are working to stop abuse on Facebook's platform in places where there is a heightened risk of conflict and violence.