Facebook Is Making A Gross Amount Of Money Off Hate Speech?
Per data from Media Matters, Facebook allegedly profited in the amount of $13,600 from ads filled with hate speech on its platform.
This article is more than 2 years old
The battle over internet speech continues to rage these days. And Meta, the Facebook parent company, is at the heart of many of them. They have made news headlines once again thanks to a new report from Media Matters.
Media Matters is a non-profit research organization. It launched in 2004. And the organization is “…dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”
According to its website, Media Matters “works daily to notify activists, journalists, pundits, and the general public about instances of misinformation, providing them with the resources to rebut false claims and to take direct action against offending media institutions.” Their staff releases news and findings in real time typically. One of the companies they keep a close eye on is social media giant Facebook.
And this week, they released a new finding. According to the group, this year, approximately 150 ads ran on Facebook that used the term “groomer.” Media Matters spoke with Facebook in September about a similar finding.
Since that connection, 94 ads using the term “groomer” remained live on the site. Plus, 19 additional ads popped up in that month. According to Mashable, all these ads have garnered a fair amount of profit for the company.
In 2022 alone, Facebook received an estimated $13,600 from the ads. Additionally, Media Matters found that the ads have resulted in over one million impressions worldwide. Mashable reached out to Meta, but they did not receive a response.
Meta officially became the parent company of Facebook early this year when Mark Zuckerberg announced news of the upcoming Metaverse. The company has come under significant fire recently over issues involving free speech and hate speech. Critics on both sides of the aisle have voiced their concerns.
So, this Media Matters report is only the latest in a long string of incidents for the company. And while Facebook did remove 40 of the ads, the non-profit is concerned that the rest remain. According to Media Matters, the term “groomer” falls under the guise of hate speech.
And, if so, it would violate Meta’s policies. The non-profit claims that Facebook has publicly stated it falls under the umbrella of hate speech. But it does not provide evidence of that supposed admission.
Additionally, Media Matters does not indicate whether it reached out to Meta for comment before news of its findings got published. So, with Facebook choosing not to respond to Mashable, it is unclear what their official stance is. It also brings up a bigger question.
Since most people get their news from social media sources, they are bound to see ads similar to TV commercials. What level of regulation should those ads have, if any? And, more importantly, how does free speech factor into that space?
The current complaint from Media Matters raises serious questions about how to define hate speech. Who should be in charge of that definition? Are independent watchdogs the answer?
Or should companies such as Facebook determine their own guidelines? Even though the internet plays a role in nearly every aspect of our lives, much remains unknown. So the great battle over internet speech will continue, for the time being at least.
