The Chief of Staff of German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remove hate speech from the company’s platform during their meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
“We have been in a process with Facebook for some time to ensure that hate mails and messages of hate are removed. I reiterated to Mr. Zuckerberg that we have a great interest in — and insist on — the removal of illegal content from Facebook,” said Peter Altmaier during a press conference.
Zuckerberg understood the importance of deleting hate speech on Facebook
Altmaier added that Germany wants to remove illegal content not just on Facebook but from the entire internet. According to him, Zuckerberg understood the importance of the issue and their meeting was “very good and constructive.”
The German government intensified its efforts against racist comments after the surge of refugees entering the country last year. The situation ignited hate speech on social networks.
In September, Justice Minister Heiko Maas pressed Facebook executives to remove criminal comments from the site. Chancellor Merkel also spoke with Zuckerberg on the sidelines during the United Nations development summit in New York and asked the company’s progress regarding its efforts on preventing xenophobic posts.
The social network giant prohibits bullying, harassment and threatening language on its platform. However, the company is not enforcing its policy properly, according to critics.
The company partnered with FSM, a German non-government organization group focused on internet safety to help address hate speech.
Altmaier believes that Zuckerberg has a “great personal interest” in meeting the company’s commitment to the German government on the issue,
Facebook AI could help remove abusive content
Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s partnership with European research institutions on artificial intelligence (AI). The social network giant donated four graphics processing unit (GPU) servers to the Technical University of Berlin.
According to him, AI could help Facebook remove bad and abusive content on its platform. The social network giant is testing a personal digital assistant called “Moneypenny” for Messenger. Moneypenny is powered by AI and it can answer questions with live human help and perform tasks including booking restaurants or purchasing online.
Zuckerberg said Facebook couldn’t do its AI research from the beginning without a significant part of it being dong across Europe.
