Skip to Content
Silicon Valley

Facebook is doing much better at removing hate speech, says the EU

February 4, 2019

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has said social-media firms are doing much more to remove flagged illegal content more quickly.

Specifically: Figures released today show that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube took down on average 72% of posts containing illegal hate speech within 24 hours of being notified. That’s up from 28% two years ago.

Top of the class: The commission singled out Facebook for praise for achieving a 82% takedown rate. It was also the best-performing social-media company in terms of getting back to people who flagged content: 92.6 % of notifications received feedback from Facebook, compared with 60.4% for Twitter and just 24.6% for YouTube.

Hate speech: Xenophobia (including anti-migrant hatred) was the most commonly reported type of hate speech (17%), followed by speech related to sexual orientation (15.6%) and anti-Muslim hatred (13%).

Vĕra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers, and Gender Equality, said in a statement: “Illegal hate speech online is not only a crime, it represents a threat to free speech and democratic engagement. In May 2016, I initiated the Code of conduct on online hate speech, because we urgently needed to do something about this phenomenon. Today, after two and a half years, we can say that we found the right approach and established a standard throughout Europe on how to tackle this serious issue, while fully protecting freedom of speech. ”

But the EC is not interested in over-zealousness. “I always said I did not wish to see the removal rate at 100%. I am glad to see there aren’t over-removals. I have always said, in case of doubt, do not delete,” Jourová said at a press conference, Politico reports.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.

Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets

When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.