Skip to main content

Facebook is cracking down on anti-government extremist 'boogaloos,' but it has reportedly been profiting off boogaloo ads calling for violence for months (FB)

By

Facebook is banning a network of anti-government extremist "boogaloos" from its platform, calling the group "violent" and designating it as a "dangerous organization," the company announced Tuesday.

"This is the latest step in our commitment to ban people who proclaim a violent mission from using our platform," the company said, adding that it had banned "220 Facebook accounts, 95 Instagram accounts, 28 Pages and 106 groups that currently comprise the network."

But despite those claims, BuzzFeed News reported later Tuesday that, for several months before Facebook's crackdown, the advertising giant took money from boogaloo accounts that ran ads on Facebook and subsidiary Instagram that openly promoted violence.

One of the ads — some of which were still live as of Tuesday — said things like "join the militia, fight the state," and featured movie clips depicting police officers being shot and killed, according to BuzzFeed News.

A Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the boogaloo ad content "does not sound good," adding that the ads would be reviewed and the Tuesday crackdown was "just the start of the impact" on the boogaloo network.

Facebook has been facing increasing pressure, including from prominent lawmakers, to take stronger action against hate speech on its platform, and critics have accused the company not just of amplifying racist content that's posted organically, but also of profiting off advertisers who pay to actively promote racism.

Earlier this month, civil rights groups called for advertisers to boycott Facebook following CEO Mark Zuckerberg's inaction on controversial posts by President Donald Trump. Since the campaign launched, more than 40 major brands, including Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Adidas, have pulled ads from the social media platform.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. 

Read the full BuzzFeed News story here »

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Tax Day is now July 15 — this is what it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time



from Tech Insider https://ift.tt/2BRPxDp
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Nintendo Switch has been the US’s bestselling console for 23 straight months

By
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge It’s been a good two years for the Nintendo Switch. According to Nintendo, the gaming tablet has been the bestselling console in the US for 23 straight months. And according to data from the NPD Group, it just had its best October ever, moving 735,926 units of both the Switch and Switch Lite in the US. The company says that represents a 136 percent increase compared to last year. To date, the Switch has sold 22.5 million units in the US, and last week Nintendo revealed that more than 68 million units have been sold globally . “We’re excited about our momentum,” says Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s SVP of sales and marketing. Chavez puts the company’s big October down to two main factors. One is a better supply of stock; this year in particular, it’s often been hard to find a Switch on store shelves. This has only been exacerbated by increased demand due to a combination of the pandemic and the breakout success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons . ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

By
After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itse...
Post a Comment
Read more

MVP versus EVP: Is it time to introduce ethics into the agile startup model?

By
Anand Rao Contributor Share on Twitter Anand Rao is global head of AI at PwC . The rocket ship trajectory of a startup is well known: Get an idea, build a team and slap together a minimum viable product (MVP) that you can get in front of users. However, today’s startups need to reconsider the MVP model as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) become ubiquitous in tech products and the market grows increasingly conscious of the ethical implications of AI augmenting or replacing humans in the decision-making process. An MVP allows you to collect critical feedback from your target market that then informs the minimum development required to launch a product — creating a powerful feedback loop that drives today’s customer-led business. This lean, agile model has been extremely successful over the past two decades — launching thousands of successful startups, some of which have grown into billion-dollar companies. However, building high-performing product...
Post a Comment
Read more