Software better at tackling IS propaganda: FB

Facebook on Tuesday said new detection tools wielded by its counterterrorism team are quickly detecting and removing extremist propaganda for the Islamic State group and al- Qaeda.

It ‘took action’on 1.9 million pieces of IS or al-Qaedalinked content in the first three months of this year — nearly double the amount from the previous quarter, according to vice-president of global policy management Monika Bickert and global head of counterterrorism policy Brian Fishman. “Taking action,” the company said, generally involved removing "the vast majority of this content. It “added a warning to a small portion that was shared for informational or counter speech purposes,” Bickert and Fishman said in an online post. In some cases, entire profiles, pages, or groups were taken down for violating Facebook policies, making all included content unavailable.

“We’ve made significant strides finding and removing their propaganda quickly and at scale” Bickert and Fishman said. “We're under no illusion that the job is done or that the progress we have made is enough.” Facebook credited detection technology and a counterterrorism team that has grown to 200 people from 150 people about 10 months ago. Facebook defined terrorism as “any non-governmental organization that engages in premeditated acts of violence against persons or property to intimidate a civilian population, government, or international organisation in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim.”

Bickert and Fishman maintained that the company's intent is to be neutral on ideology and politics, meaning the terrorism definition applies equally to everything from religious extremism and violent separatism to white supremacy or militant environmentalism.