Timnit Gebru

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Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> giants Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and Twitter have come Under Fire<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> over their roles in the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia.

Critics say They are not doing enough to prevent the spread of hate speech and incitement to violence on their platforms, but that has been rejected by the companies.

We've looked at some examples and what is being done to deal with them.

How influential is Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in Ethiopia?

Only about 10% of the population in Ethiopia uses Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , according to The Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> . There are relatively low rates of internet adoption in the country and a lack of broadband infrastructure in some areas.

However, Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> is widely used by Ethiopians abroad, and Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> posts by Prime Minister<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Abiy Ahmed<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> regularly receive tens of thousands of likes and thousands of shares.

The Ethiopian Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - and those who oppose it - Track<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> what appears on Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> closely.

For example, Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> - whose parent company is now called Meta - was publicly criticised by the Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> because it removed a post by Mr Abiy

" Organisations like Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , that has been used to spread violence, has shown its true colours by deleting our Prime Minister<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> 's message, " a Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> statement said.

A Meta spokesperson told The Bbc<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> : " At Meta , we remove content from individuals or organisations that violates our community standards, no matter who They are. "

How much hate speech is there?

Rights group Amnesty International<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Says it has noted a significant rise in Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> posts in the current conflict that have clearly incited violence and used ethnic slurs, noting that many of these " have gone unchecked".

Last month, Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> said of the Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> giant's engagement-based ranking: " In places like Ethiopia, it's literally fanning ethnic violence. "

There are also examples of incitements to violence on other platforms like Twitter.

We have obscured some of the tweet above in support of a Tigrayan rebel group, because it urges violence against Mr Abiy.

And in this example below by a pro-Amhara Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> account, we have chosen not to show all the text and the full image for similar reasons.

" My frustration is that They 're not taking action on the clearest examples, " Says Timnit Gebru<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , a data scientist who follows Ethiopia's Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> .

She was among those who recently campaigned for the removal of a post that called on people to get rid of " traitors" against the Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> , which They believed was an " incitement to genocide".

Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> initially said The Post<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> did not violate its policies, but later removed it.

" Even after They finally Take Down<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> specific posts. . They don't take action against the accounts, " Ms Gebru Says .

A group calling itself Network Against Hate-speech has Set Up<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> its own Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> page to flag unacceptable content, and urges readers to report further examples They find online.

The Bbc<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> also found posts that had been on Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> for weeks and were only deleted for violations when we highlighted them.

But The Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> also said some of the posts we flagged were not in violation of its policy, and so were not removed.

Both pro and anti-Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> users have also used the in-built reporting tools on Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and Twitter to try to shut down their opponents.

This has led to accusations that Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> platforms don't treat one side or The Other<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> fairly.

What do Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> companies say?

Twitter Says it has been monitoring The Situation<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> in Ethiopia and is committed to " protecting the safety of The Conversation<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on Twitter".

Early this month, The Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> temporarily disabled its Trends for Ethiopia, which is meant to show The Topics<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> that are most popular at any given time.

" We hope this measure will reduce the risks of co-ordination that could incite violence or cause harm, " it Says .

But some pro-Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> accounts complained that this occurred just when a pro-Government<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> hashtag was among The Top<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> trends.

Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Says it has invested in safety and security measures in Ethiopia for More Than<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> two years and has built capacity to detect hateful and inflammatory content posted in Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya.

" We have a dedicated team, which includes native language speakers, closely monitoring The Situation<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> on the ground, who are focused on making sure we're removing harmful content, " Says a Meta spokesperson.

However, Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> did not make clear how many people it employed to review content in each of those languages.

Much of the content goes unchecked, argues Mulatu Alemayehu from Addis Ababa<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> University, who follows Social Media<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> conversations.

He also Says that " either knowingly or unknowingly, those posts written [in languages] other than Amharic [The Most<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> widely spoken] are less vulnerable to being reported and blocked".

This, he suggests, has created a perception that accounts posting in Amharic are being targeted disproportionately, while content in other languages goes under the radar.

Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Says it has also made it easier for Human Rights<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> organisations and civil society groups to alert them to potentially harmful content, and that it uses technology to automatically detect hateful content posted in Amharic and Oromo.

Between May and October 2021, The Company<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> Says it acted on More Than<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> 92,000 pieces of content in Ethiopia on Facebook<Meta itemprop='name' content='JJ Lin'> and Instagram.

" About 98% of which was detected before it was reported by people to us, " it Says .

Source of news: bbc.com