A new study has found that Facebook has failed to catch Islamic State group and al-Shabab extremist content in posts aimed at East Africa as the region remains under threat from violent attacks and Kenya prepares to vote in a closely contested national election.<\/p>\n
An Associated Press series last year, drawing on leaked documents shared by a Facebook whistleblower, showed how the platform repeatedly failed to act on sensitive content including hate speech in many places around the world.<\/p>\n
The new and unrelated two-year study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found Facebook posts that openly supported IS or the Somalia-based al-Shabab \u2014 even ones carrying al-Shabab branding and calling for violence in languages including Swahili, Somali and Arabic \u2014 were allowed to be widely shared.<\/p>\n
The report expresses particular concern with narratives linked to the extremist groups that accuse Kenyan government officials and politicians of being enemies of Muslims, who make up a significant part of the East African nation\u2019s population. The report notes that \u201cxenophobia toward Somali communities in Kenya has long been rife.\u201d<\/p>\n
The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab has been described as the deadliest extremist group in Africa, and it has carried out high-profile attacks in recent years in Kenya far from its base in neighboring Somalia. The new study found no evidence of Facebook posts that planned specific attacks, but its authors and Kenyan experts warn that allowing even general calls to violence is a threat to the closely contested August presidential election.<\/p>\n
Already, concerns about hate speech around the vote, both online and off, are growing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey chip away at that trust in democratic institutions,\u201d report researcher Moustafa Ayad told the AP of the extremist posts.<\/p>\n
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue found 445 public profiles, some with duplicate accounts, sharing content linked to the two extremist groups and tagging more than 17,000 other accounts. Among the narratives shared were accusations that Kenya and the United States are enemies of Islam, and among the posted content was praise by al-Shabab\u2019s official media arm for the killing of Kenyan soldiers.<\/p>\n
Even when Facebook took down pages, they would quickly be reconstituted under different names, Ayad said, describing serious lapses by both artificial intelligence and human moderators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are they not acting on rampant content put up by al-Shabab?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou\u2019d think that after 20 years of dealing with al-Qaida, they\u2019d have a good understanding of the language they use, the symbolism.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the authors have discussed their findings with Facebook and some of the accounts have been taken down. He said the authors also plan to share the findings with Kenya\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
Ayad said both civil society and government bodies such as Kenya\u2019s national counterterrorism center should be aware of the problem and encourage Facebook to do more.<\/p>\n
Asked for comment, Facebook requested a copy of the report before its publication, which was refused.<\/p>\n
The company then responded with an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already removed a number of these pages and profiles and will continue to investigate once we have access to the full findings,\u201d Facebook wrote Tuesday, not giving any name, citing security concerns. \u201cWe don\u2019t allow terrorist groups to use Facebook, and we remove content praising or supporting these organizations when we become aware of it. We have specialized teams \u2014 which include native Arabic, Somali and Swahili speakers \u2014 dedicated to this effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerns about Facebook\u2019s monitoring of content are global, say critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we have seen in India, the United States, the Philippines, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the consequences of failing to moderate content posted by extremist groups and supporters can be deadly, and can push democracy past the brink,\u201d the watchdog The Real Facebook Oversight Board said of the new report, adding that Kenya at the moment is a \u201cmicrocosm of everything that\u2019s wrong\u201d with Facebook owner Meta.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is, who should ask Facebook to step up and do its work?\u201d asked Leah Kimathi, a Kenyan consultant in governance, peace and security, who suggested that government bodies, civil society and consumers all can play a role. \u201cFacebook is a business. The least they can do is ensure that something they\u2019re selling to us is not going to kill us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: Voice of America<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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