Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg moved to stave off a threatened advertising backlash with a series of steps designed to tackle harmful content on its platforms.
As key advertisers prepared to boycott the company in July due to its approach to hate speech , Zuckerberg said Facebook consulted with a civil rights expert to update its approach to tackling the issue.
The company plans to slap a “problematic” label on potentially contentious content, allowing “people to share this content to condemn it, just like we do with other problematic content because this is an important part of how we discuss what’s acceptable in our society,” Zuckerberg explained, adding, “but we’ll add a prompt to tell people that the content they’re sharing may violate our policies”.
An exception will be posting encouraging violence or suppressing voting, which will be taken down by the company.
Facebook will also widen the range of content prohibited in adverts, including those claiming people from a certain race, ethnicity, or gender identity posed a threat.
Authoritative information regarding voting in the US will be offered on the Facebook and Instagram apps in the upcoming months, and the company will also tighten its policies on misleading content intended to sway voters by removing any false claims about polling conditions 72 hours before elections.
