Facebook started marking some posts linking to reports and articles on coronavirus as spam. An official stated on Tuesday a bug was liable for the incident, which prompted widespread complaints from users over the internet.
The trouble appears to transpire with other links - not only those associated with coronavirus coverage - with users receiving a message that their posts violate community guidelines.
The issue arose a day after Facebook sending home for public health reasons all workers responsible for content review services for the social media giant.
Anti-unsolicited mail system
The problem was because of a "bug in an anti-spam system," according to Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity. Rosen explained the agency began operating on an update as quickly as discovering the issue. He added the social media organization is fixing and bringing these kinds of posts back.
It looks like an anti-spam rule at FB is going haywire. Facebook sent home content moderators yesterday, who generally can't WFH due to privacy commitments the company has made. We might be seeing the start of the ML going nuts with less human oversight. https://t.co/XCSz405wtR — Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) March 17, 2020
On Monday, Facebook posted an update to its company website online on how the social platform is handling content material moderation. The social media site claims it protects its users from imminent harm and boom user reliance on proactive detection in detecting infringing content. "We don't expect this to impact people using our platform in any noticeable way," the update read.
A few hours after, Rosen said Facebook had resolved the problem and restored the affected posts. "We've restored all the posts that had been incorrectly removed, which covered posts on all topics - not simply those related to COVID-19," Rosen explained. According to Facebook, the issue changed into an automatic moderation device that was unassociated with any adjustments to its moderator workforce.
YouTube is relying on AI to moderate
Similarly, YouTube warned its creators that video removals may slow growth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The video-sharing platform is totally relying on technology instead of human moderation to do the job of removing misinformation.
YouTube said the creators could appeal the decision if they think that their content was removed in error and the administrating teams will review. The platform added it would also be more cautious about what content gets promoted, including live streams.
Facebook, in conjunction with six different tech groups, also launched a joint declaration on Monday soliciting for for others inside the industry to help inside the fight towards misinformation approximately COVID-19.
In a statement, tech giants claim it is helping millions of people stay connected while jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus. The companies added they have joint forces to elevate authoritative content on each platform and share critical updates in coordination with government health care agencies worldwide.
ALSO READ: It's Two Against 1! Silicon Valley Joins Forces White House to Fight Coronavirus
