[PsYcNeT]

A reporter went undercover as a Facebook moderator and was trained not to delete certain racist memes and images of child abuse

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/c...18-7?r=US&IR=T

The journalist undertook CPL Resources’ training, in which new staff members are brought up to speed with Facebook’s community standards and set to work reviewing content including images of graphic violence, child abuse, and hate speech.

Moderators were given three options when reviewing material: ignore, delete, or mark as disturbing. Content marked as disturbing remains on Facebook but has restrictions on who is able to view it.

The reporter found instances in which images of child abuse, racism, and violence were allowed to remain on Facebook. In some cases, the findings also exposed wild inconsistencies between the way moderators were being trained and Facebook’s standards.

CPL Resources trainees were shown a meme of a little girl having her head held underwater with the caption “when your daughter’s first crush is a little negro boy.”

The reporter was told that the image was an “ignore,” because “it implies a lot, but to reach the actual violation, you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get there.”
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The undercover reporter also found that certain instances of hate speech were permitted. A comment aimed at Muslim immigrants that said “###### off back to your own countries” was allowed to remain on the site. Had the comment been aimed solely at Muslims, rather than Muslim immigrants, it apparently would have been deleted.