As hate content spiked, cost cuts at Facebook hit its review team

As inflammatory and divisive content increased across most markets including India, it was the global team responsible for reviewing hate speech at Facebook that faced cost cuts. This is flagged in internal documents reviewed by The Indian Express.

To reduce expenses, three potential levers were proposed internally at the social media company — reviewing fewer user reports, reviewing fewer proactively detected pieces of content, and reviewing fewer appeals, according to an internal strategy note dated August 6, 2019. In effect, the clean-up was the casualty.

As The Indian Express reported on Thursday, it was in July 2020 that an internal document pointed to a “marked increase” in “anti-Muslim” rhetoric on the platform in the preceding 18 months in India, Facebook’s biggest market by the number of users.