Facebook has been under fire recently for not doing enough to prevent crimes from being streamed on the site. On Wednesday, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said that he plans to hire an additional 3,000 people for the sole purpose of reviewing videos of crimes and suicides.
ABC reports that Zuckerberg made the jobs announcement on a video posted directly to Facebook. The Facebook CEO said that Facebook has “a lot of work” to do to stop videos such as the recent Cleveland tragedy when Steve Stephens shot and killed an innocent elderly man. The incident was posted on Facebook.
“There is a lot to do here…We’re reminded of this, this week, by the tragedy in Cleveland. And our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr.”
Over the last few weeks, we've seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook — either live or in video posted…
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Violent videos and videos that glorify violence are against Facebook TOS. The problem, however, is that Facebook usually doesn’t review the videos until after someone makes a report. Zuckerberg said he would make it easier for people to report Facebook crimes and speed up review times.
“If we’re going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly,” Zuckerberg said.
In addition to the Cleveland tragedy, at least four people killed themselves while streaming Facebook Live in 2017. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, suicide is at an all-time high. Jennifer Guadagno, Facebook’s lead researcher for suicide prevention, recently responded to the outpour of complaints from people who want Facebook Live completely eliminated. Guadagno said that Facebook Live could be one of the best ways to help save lives.
“Some people may say we should cut off the stream the moment there’s a hint of somebody talking about suicide, but what we learned from the experts and what they emphasized to us is that cutting off the stream too early removes the chance of someone being able to reach out and provide help. In this way, Live becomes a lifeline. It opens up the opportunity for people to reach out for support and for people to give support at this time that’s critically important.”
The 3,000 new hires are in addition to around 4,500 people who already review Facebook content.
[Feature Photo: AP/Noah Berger]
