Facebook Deletes Nearly 300,000 Posts Reported as Hate Speech Monthly, Reaches 2 Billion Users

Facebook has deleted about 66,000 posts reported as hate speech every week globally or about 288,000 posts per month, blogged Richard Allan, vice president-public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Tuesday. "But it’s clear we’re not perfect when it comes to enforcing our policy. Often there are close calls -- and too often we get it wrong." Sometimes the posts are obvious but sometimes it isn't clear "because the words themselves are ambiguous, the intent behind them is unknown or the context around them is unclear," he said. Allan said the current definition of hate speech is "anything that directly attacks" people's "protected characteristics" such as ethnicity, gender, gender identity, national origin, race, religious affiliation, serious disability or disease, sex and sexual orientation. But there's "no universally accepted answer" when the line is crossed and national hate speech laws vary significantly, added Allan. Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted that the social media site now has 2 billion users.