Facebook is being accused of refusing to remove graphic videos including one of a man assaulting a toddler.
An undercover investigation carried out by Channel 4 revealed that Facebook moderators were told not to remove certain graphic videos from the site.
Dispatches showed that during training sessions, moderators were shown a video of an adult man punching and stamping on a toddler.
Moderators were told to mark this video as ‘disturbing’, meaning that users would have to click in to view the content, but that ultimately it should remain on the site.
One moderator filmed for the programme said: “If you start censoring too much then people stop using the platform. It’s all about money at the end of the day.”
Facebook told the programme that the video in question should have been removed.
The Dispatches reporter attended training sessions and meetings in the Cpl Facebook resources offices in Dublin over a period of six weeks earlier this year.
Other content that also remained online included a cartoon of a woman drowning a child in a bathtub including the caption: “When your daughter’s first crush is a little negro boy,” and a video that said: “Muslim immigrants should ‘f*** off back to (their) own country’.”
In both cases, moderators said that the videos should be ignored and allowed to remain on site.
Facebook later said that these videos violated their policies on hate speech and that they would investigate the incidents.
Dispatches: Inside Facebook: Secrets Of The Social Network will be shown tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm.
