Facebook has vowed to maintain the security of its platform against groups advocating violence, terrorism, and even partisan political activities in the country.
Ranked as one of the top Internet users worldwide where long hours are spent browsing the social media, Filipinos are expected to follow the election scenes through FB and other platforms. The country’s political exercise has been noted as one of the most violent elections in the world.
FB has also been the favorite social-media site of international and Mindanao-based terrorist groups to spread their calling and recruit members just like in the case of the Abu Sayyaf Group, al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah and the Islamic State.
“We make sure that it will not be abused…we don’t wait for elections to happen, but we enforce all the time,” said Dr. Nawab Osman, head of FB’s counterterrorism and dangerous organization in the Asia Pacific at virtual news briefing on Wednesday.
Osman said the social-media platform maintains a set of rules or what it called “community standards,” which were developed by content experts who are also subject matter experts.
In the case of terrorism, violations are determined against the meaning and intent of the words “praise,” “support” and “representation.”
FB employs at least 350 people who are experts in counterterrorism aside from the 40,000 staff who work in the areas of safety and security.
According to Osman, in the ab-sence of a “global” definition for hate and terrorism, FB follows its com-munity standards in determining terrorism contents and who could be called terrorist individuals or groups, and not necessarily follow the listings issued by states or organizations.
“We designate after rigorous processes,” he said, explaining that the system includes determination by a global team of specialists, and again, by the goals and behaviors of the designated individual or group.
FB does not, however, publicly share its list.
“We do not allow organizations or individuals that proclaims violence through Facebook,” Osman said, admitting they do not have a “breakdown” of terrorist organizations around the world, including in the country, but added the threats posed by these groups through the social media are being stopped.