We’re acting to end abuse on social media

Steve Hatch, Facebook's VP of Northern Europe, explains how the platform is tackling hate speech

Social media has become part of the fabric of football fan culture, from helping fans go behind the scenes, to connecting with others after a win. They’re exactly the kind of positive connections we want to see on Facebook and Instagram. Yet some people will still try to abuse others on social media, just as they do offline. We’ve seen that all too often, with the recent and abhorrent racist and sexist abuse targeted at athletes, presenters and others online. No one should have to experience that.

We share the goal of those who paused their accounts and understand people want to drive change. While this issue is bigger than one company, we want to help stop online hate and know we have a big role to play in protecting people from abuse. We want to take this moment to explain what we’re doing to achieve that goal, and discuss the changes some are calling for.

We have clear rules against hate speech. Unfortunately, zero tolerance doesn’t mean zero incidence. We can’t stop people from being prejudiced, or from typing abuse into their phone, but we can take steps to strengthen our rules, and improve our detection and enforcement. Over the past few years we’ve built tools to protect people from abuse, including the ability to filter it from comments on posts and turn off Instagram Direct Messages (DMs) from people they don’t follow.

Like text messages, DMs are private conversations where messages go to you personally. That means we rely on in-app reports and don’t proactively look for hate speech or bullying in DMs the same way that we do in comments or posts. And yet we know DMs are where many public figures have received horrific abuse. That’s why over the past few months we’ve taken tougher action when people break our rules in DMs, by removing the accounts of those who repeatedly send violating messages. And we're rolling out a new tool which, when turned on, will automatically filter Instagram DM requests containing offensive words, phrases and emojis.

This is the first feature of its kind across social media. We’ve shaped it after consulting with footballers and anti-discrimination experts. If people use it, they should not see these types of abusive messages from strangers. It puts control back in the hands of the targets of abuse, and we encourage everyone to turn it on when it’s available. We’ll also start making it harder for someone you’ve blocked from contacting you again, by letting you pre-emptively block new accounts they may create.

The work to bring about real long-term change must happen offline, too. That’s why we teamed up with Kick It Out to launch anti-discrimination initiative, 'Take a Stand', empowering fans to call out discrimination and racism wherever they see it, moving the conversation from awareness to action. And we’re working with HOPE Not Hate to pilot anti-discrimination education programmes for fans.

Some are calling for people to hand over personal ID to social media firms before they set up an account. We understand people want to hold abusers accountable – so do we. That’s why we continue to work with the police on hate speech, and respond to valid legal requests for information, which can be essential for investigations. But asking for us to also require ID for everyone who sets up an account brings real, albeit unintended, risks. Estimates suggest there are 3.5 million people – mainly from disadvantaged groups – in the UK who don’t have access to official forms of photo ID. That said, we’re continuing to research identity-based problems and solutions, while accounting for the very real challenges of exclusion, privacy and security.

People also ask whether we prioritise copyright violations over hate speech. We don’t. Both are against our rules, but in some cases our automated systems can be more effective in catching and removing copyright violations. Hate speech almost always needs a human reviewer to understand the context; for example if it is being used to attack, we’d remove it, but if someone is condemning it, we’d allow it. It’s not a like-for-like comparison, and certainly not an indication of which we take more seriously.

No single thing will fix this challenge overnight but we’re committed to doing what we can to keep our community safe from abuse. We’ll continue our work with the football industry, government and others to effect change through action and education. Together we will keep up the fight to make sure everyone can connect in an environment that’s free from abuse.