Facebook hires 3,000 more employees to delete violent videos

The world's largest social network announced it will hire 3,000 more employees to speed up the removal of violent videos spreading on its platform.

Photo: Reuters

Reuters news agency reported that Facebook will hire 3,000 new employees to quickly remove videos of murder, suicide and other violent acts within the next year.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg personally announced this recruitment on May 3.

Facebook's response came after netizens were shocked by two videos in April recording suicides in Thailand and the US and then posted on the social network.

“If we are going to build a safe community, we need to be responsive,” Mark Zuckerberg shared.

The Facebook boss said the 3,000 employees expected to be hired will be in addition to the 4,500 other employees they already have working to evaluate user content posted to Facebook. Facebook currently has about 17,000 employees.

Facebook admits it needs more automated software to verify and remove such content.

Violent videos have become an even more pressing issue since Facebook launched Facebook Live last year, allowing its 1.9 billion monthly active users to stream live video from their accounts.

Researchers say some violent images on Facebook are inevitable due to the social network's large scale of operations. However, Facebook has been criticized by the public for its slow response to the issue.

In Germany, Facebook is facing pressure to be faster and more accurate in removing hate speech and fake news.

German lawmakers have threatened the social network with heavy fines if it fails to remove at least 70% of offensive content within 24 hours.

According to Tuoitre