Facebook takes a cleansing breath

Good news for language majors. Over the next year, Facebook will add 3,000 recruits to the 4,500 staffers whose job it is to delete hate speech in at least 30 different languages.

Some of you may see them as the speech police. However, I prefer to call them speech “chaperones.” They gently delete 66,000 posts every week.

But, as the official Facebook blog explains, it isn’t easy.

For example, a snapshot of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi waving an ISIS flag might be terrorist propaganda, but it might also be part of a news dispatch.

Facebook also strictly prohibits ethnic slurs, but if it’s your OWN ethnicity, it’s fine. So, it’s OK for the Asian-American rock band “The Slants” has a Facebook page.

Then there are slogans that have different meanings around the world. In Britain, for example, if you say “burn flags not fags,” it’s an anti-smoking message. In America, it’s something very different.

Official Facebook policy also says you can use the word “dyke” to describe your own sexual preference, but if you’re attacking someone else’s, you may not use the word, even though it’s the exact same word.

So, if more of you could just own up and clearly state who it is you hate and whether you’re being sarcastic, it would really help.

By the way, the Polish death metal band known simply as “Hate” has a Facebook page and a new album.

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