Facebook‘s representative has affirmed in a statement on Tuesday that the organization had accidentally set a “hate speech” button live on its platform for a brief timeframe. The button asked users: “Does this contain hate speech?”
The company Vice President, Guy Rosen also explained on Twitter that the button was displayed on posts irrespective of their content but was “reverted” within 20 minutes.
The spokesperson further maintained that the company was conducting an “internal test” in an attempt to understand “different types of speech, including speech we thought would not be hate.” They said a bug caused the button to launch publicly but it has since been disabled.
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Facebook has as of late experienced harsh criticism for what pundits say are a lack of action when it comes to controlling hate speech in developing countries. A current report from The New York Times says violence in Sri Lanka has hit the country especially hard because Facebook speculations regularly lead to violence results. The online networking company is holding its F8 Conference on Tuesday where CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he intends to share how his organization is working to “keep people safe.”