from Hacker News

Facebook’s Systems Promoted Violence Against Rohingya in Myanmar

by xparadigm on 9/29/22, 6:53 AM with 13 comments

• by fxtentacle on 9/29/22, 8:12 AM

  Apparently, they introduced stickers that allow you to boost violent content by flagging it... They probably started this with good intentions, but the algorithm clearly went wrong.

  "In 2014, Meta attempted to support an anti-hate initiative known as ‘Panzagar’ or ‘flower speech’ by creating a sticker pack for Facebook users to post in response to content which advocated violence or discrimination. The stickers bore messages such as, ‘Think before you share’ and ‘Don’t be the cause of violence.’

  However, activists soon noticed that the stickers were having unintended consequences. Facebook’s algorithms interpreted the use of these stickers as a sign that people were enjoying a post and began promoting them. Instead of diminishing the number of people who saw a post advocating hatred, the stickers actually made the posts more visible."

• by djohnston on 9/29/22, 12:08 PM

  People don't like confronting the idea we are violent tribal primates barely above chimpanzees, who conspicuously are also violent tribal primates. The only thing these companies are doing is holding a mirror to our society, and we really don't like the reflection.

• by amadeuspagel on 9/29/22, 10:59 AM

  Would it be fair to say that HN "promotes" stories that HN users upvote, let alone actions that such stories might lead to?

• by anvic on 9/29/22, 7:57 AM

  No, Facebook simply showed what other people posted.