Act faster to stop hate speech
removed the passwords. The company did not say when it discovered the bug.
In 2011, Twitter finalised a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that the company’s ‘‘serious lapses’’ in data security ‘‘allowed hackers to obtain unauthorised administrative control of Twitter,’’ according to an FTC release.
As part of the settlement, Twitter must maintain a ‘‘comprehensive information security program’’ that will be independently assessed every other year for 10 years.
Such data security assessments, have come under scrutiny in recent weeks, after Facebook’s entanglement with a political consultancy that improperly accessed the data of 87 million users. Facebook’s assessments did not appear to detect the incident.
Twitter shares fell 1 per cent in extended trading following the news. The stock closed at US$30.67 (NZ$43.56) earlier in New York. The Washington Post Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan told Facebook it should consider establishing a special team to respond more quickly to threats of sectarian violence in countries such as Myanmar that are at high risk.
Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is under pressure from authorities and rights groups in many countries for its role in spreading hate speech, false stories and government-sponsored propaganda.
Annan was asked by Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox if he had a recommendation for the company to help protect elections.
He responded that Facebook should look for societies where people are likely to put out ‘‘poisonous messages’’, and then monitor the language there.
Facebook could ‘‘organise sort of a rapid response force, rapid reaction group, who can be injected into a situation, when you see it developing, so that they can try to see what advice they can give the electoral commission or those involved,’’ Annan said.
Facebook said it had more than 7500 workers who reviewed posts for compliance with its rule book.
It some countries, though, it acknowledges it is short-handed. It said last month that it needed more people to work on public policy in Myanmar.
UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar said in March Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech in the country. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown last August.
Annan headed a commission that last year recommended to the government of Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country, that it avoid excessive force in the crisis.
Since then, social media may have made the crisis worse, he told Facebook employees.
‘‘If indeed that was the case, was there a point somewhere along the line when action could have been taken to disrupt the dissemination of the messages? These are issues that you may need to think through,’’ Annan said.
Cox replied: ‘‘That’s something we’re taking very seriously.’’
Reuters