There has been a lot of talk concerning Facebook’s approach to content moderation lately. The recent controversies brought to light by the Facebook Files Expose put the platform in a bad position; Facebook got bombarded with heavy criticism at all angles for its apparent lack of diligence in upholding all of its users’ online security. In response, Facebook has recently launched two new ads calling for more government regulation of the tech sector. The ads also seek to humanize those who are behind Facebook’s decision-making process.
Before you proceed, we recommend watching the ads first; to also get additional context about the points that will be brought up later on in the article.
Rochelle and Jack are two Facebook employees who are currently working to address rising concerns and challenges about the platform’s performance regarding content moderation.
As ‘Rochelle’ stated in her segment:
“You should be able to understand who has your data and how they use it. Federal legislation can give our platforms and other platforms guidelines so we can have a consistent approach.”
In line with this, Facebook Content Moderator ‘Jack’ said:
“We make a lot of difficult decisions. We work in the spectrum of freedom of expression versus content moderation and constantly trying to figure out where on that spectrum we should land. I don’t know if that is right to have a private corporation like Facebook, dictating what those boundaries are.”
If you were able to notice, certain video elements, such as music and lighting, were composed in such a way so as to elicit a more sympathetic response – they were made to, in the face of these challenges, showcase a more human connection. Both videos underline the 40,000 other Facebook staff working on these problems who, like ‘Rochelle’ and ‘Jack’, are smart, simple folk who effortlessly toil to uphold Facebook’s name. This approach meant to show that Facebook was not the tyrannical corporate monster that everyone makes it to be.
The sudden change in tone is interesting to say the least, given how aggressive and dismissive Facebook’s PR team has been towards refuting claims made by their former product manager, Frances Haugen. To cut the long story short, Haugen revealed that Facebook, though aware of the harmfulness of some of its apps, chose not to take the appropriate action for fear that they would ‘lose out on the deal.’ Since then, Facebook had been rather “condescending” in its efforts to combat all and any allegations. This of course drew the ire of many commentators, who threw blows left and right regarding how the platform so blatantly just wishes for Haugen and those that support her to ‘zip it.’
With their new approach, they look to counter whatever negative image has been attached by working to provide another perspective on their efforts. Facebook calls for the need to update existing internet regulations. To emphasize, they even published this mini-site.
The Wrap
Facebook had been calling for improved regulations for some time now which, if granted, would help alleviate both the concerns regarding its processes and motives as well as the burden of seemingly having to bear the decision-making onus. While it’s never easy to simply amend existing regulations to have more considerations; let alone enact completely new one, it does take a major headache away from Facebook if an arbitrary legislation or regulatory body makes decisions.
Yes, it’s always a complicated topic if you’ll integrate politics and social media, but it’s a tangent that one day will eventually be a standard. Facebook does make a point when it says that individual platforms shouldn’t be left in a position where they have to be the ones who decide what’s acceptable and what’s not. Results can be counter-intuitive seeing as how influence and the modern media and speech cycles come in.
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