11/16/2018

Facebook Moves to Limit Toxic Content As Scandal Swirls

The social media giant is making a litany of changes to improve transparency

Mark Zuckerberg would like you to know that despite a scathing report in The New York Times, which depicts Facebook as a ruthless and selfish corporate behemoth, things are getting better—at least, the way he sees it.

In a lengthy call with reporters Thursday, and an equally lengthy "note" published on Facebook, the company's CEO laid out a litany of changes Facebook is making, designed to curb toxic content on the platform and provide more transparency into the decisions on content. But perhaps the most consequential update is that the Facebook News Feed algorithm will now try to limit the spread of sensationalist content on the platform, which represents a major change from how the social network traditionally has approached moderation. All of it is in service of restoring trust in a company whose reputation—and that of its leaders—has taken near constant body blows over the past two years.

"When you have setbacks like we’ve had this year, that’s a big issue, and it does erode trust, and it takes time to build that back," Zuckerberg said on the call. "Certainly our job is not only to have this stuff at a good level and to continually improve, but to be ahead of new issues. I think over the last couple of years that’s been one of the areas where we’ve been most behind, especially around the election issues."

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.