Facebook admits to 'serious mistake' in not removing hate posts in Sri Lanka 

A Facebook executive has admitted that the company “made a mistake” in not removing a post that incited racial hatred in Sri Lanka, an international hearing on fake news and disinformation in London heard on Tuesday (Nov 27). 

Mr Richard Allan, Facebook's vice-president of policy solutions, agreed it was a "serious and egregious" mistake, he maintained Facebook is still "best placed" to remove content which causes harm.

The exchange took place in the British Parliament yesterday, in a hearing that involved 24 parliamentarians from nine countries, including Singapore.

In his question, Mr Tong referenced a Facebook post in the Sinhala language which read, "Kill all Muslims, don't even let an infant of the dogs escape". A report said a user had pointed out to Facebook it violated its hate speech policy.

But Facebook replied then that it did not go against its "community standards" and told the user to directly block the person posting it, among other options.

In a still taken from UK Parliament video footage, Facebook's vice-president of policy solutions Richard Allan gives evidence at an international hearing on fake news in London on Nov 27, 2018. PHOTO: AFP 

Mr Tong asked if Facebook's initial refusal to take down the inflammatory posts - which led to the Sri Lankan government banning access to the platform - showed that the social media site "cannot be trusted to make the right assessment" on what can appear on its platform.

Mr Allan admitted it was a "simple error" on the part of a Facebook staff member, saying: "We make mistakes. Our responsibility is to reduce the number of mistakes."

He added: "We are investing very heavily now in artificial intelligence, where we would precisely create a dictionary of hate-speech terms in every language."

Ms Sun asked if Facebook would work with the authorities to take down false information and close accounts that put out fake news.

Mr Allan said that while it would work with the authorities, "the best person to make a decision about whether that claim is true or false is not Facebook... it's the relevant judicial authority in any country".