Facebook Must Conduct A Civil Rights Audit On How Its Platform Has Been Used to Sow Hatred, Racial Animus, Bigotry And Divisiveness In Our Country
“I think the mistake we made, in viewing our responsibility as just building tools, rather than viewing our whole responsibility as making sure those tools were used for good.” — Mark Zuckerberg, April 10, 2018
Hate speech, discrimination, racism, and bigotry are harms experienced by communities of color all too often on Facebook. These concerns are not new, and in fact, have been plaguing the platform for years. During the April 10th and 11th Senate and House hearings Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified for over ten hours. Both days he was peppered with questions about how Facebook works, and carefully evaded questions about how Facebook exactly tracks its users.
However, Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) used his time to ask questions about Facebook’s discriminatory practices involving communities of color. Booker noted how “this country has a very bad history of discriminatory practices toward low income Americans and Americans of color,” but stated that he has always seen technology as a promise to democratize our nation. Booker continued, that despite this promise, we have “seen how technology platforms like Facebook can actually be used to double down on discrimination.” As examples, Booker discussed how Facebook’s advertisers could exclude users based on race, a story ProPublica exposed last year, and how law enforcement officials use Facebook to monitor activists in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Booker ultimately asked Zuckerberg if Facebook would be open to a civil rights audit. “That’s a very good idea and I think we should follow up on the details of that,” Zuckerberg responded but did not elaborate. The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and other civil rights advocates agree that this type of audit is not only important, it is a necessary step and something that Facebook must undergo.
A civil rights audit is not a new concept, and has been used by Airbnb to test for racial discrimination by hosts. The audit would require that Facebook hire “an independent third-party team to conduct a thorough and public audit of the civil rights impact of [its] policies and programs, as well as how the platform has been used by hate groups, political entities, and others to stoke racial or religious resentment or violence.”
Even before the Cambridge Analytical scandal, civil rights organizations had been sending letters to Facebook citing specific instances of discrimination. These letter were met with unsatisfactory responses — and in some cases, no response all. For instance, early last year, the Center for Media Justice along with 76 other social and racial justice organizations raised concerns “about the consistent and disproportionate censorship of Facebook users of color or Facebook’s interactions with law enforcement.” Instead of using this as an opportunity to improve the platform, Facebook was dismissive and did not adequately address concerns raised about its enforcement policies.
Later in that year, Muslim Advocates and other civil rights organizations, including the NHMC, reached out to Facebook “regarding ads, pages, and hateful content” on the platform being used to divide our country. The letter also raised issues regarding the pervasive bigotry that has long existed on the platform, which was exploited by Russian operatives to sow hatred and divisions in our society. In order to begin to address these problems, the letter listed specific concrete recommendations to begin to address these problems, including the one that Booker recommended: Facebook undergoing a civil rights audit. Given the countless examples of how Facebook has allowed hatred and bigotry to thrive on its platform, a civil rights audit is long overdue.
The audit is only the first step. What comes after is equally as important. Facebook must commit to making the audit findings, along with any recommendations, available to the public. Then based on the findings, Facebook must also commit to changing its policies, programs, and processes to address areas of concern. Because Facebook has failed to listen to our communities, civil rights groups will continue to press Facebook to conduct the audit. It is not acceptable to merely act after journalists make inquiries, like in the recent case of suspending a fake Black Lives Matter page.
This week Zuckerberg unequivocally stated that Facebook was willing to implement changes to the company and platform which restore the public’s trust. Conducting a civil rights audit is a reasonable request and an important place to start. It is time for Facebook to be proactive in addressing these concerns. Only then can we begin to trust that Facebook’s behavior will truly change.
