Facebook Makes Money On Hate Speech

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Anyone who has spent time on social media, you are well-versed in the maze of dodging, or engaging, in the tension and nastiness that often times plays out. As folks feel free to speak their minds behind the safety of a screen and keyboard, it often opens a window to a place where hate speech and conspiracy theories lay in wait.

Facebook, once a social media channel that allowed us to find old high school buddies and stay connected to friends and family across the globe, is now best known for its more sinister role in society. It’s undeniable that the demise and destruction of any waning faith we had in the American political system is now beyond a point of repair, and MAGA groups that proclaim supremacy have a firm grasp on the ol’ FB. Now, Facebook is digging itself out of a new version of the same ditch they have been curled up in for the last several years.

Investigative reporter Alex Kotch of Sludge has just released a rather unsettling article which states that Facebook has raked in millions of dollars while promoting the content of hate groups since mid-2018 through various forms of advertising.

While the Community Standards bans hate speech, Kotch reported, “the company hosts and profits from pages, some verified, of numerous organizations identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonpartisan nonprofit that has been tracking and reporting on extremism since the 1970s.”

Since the election of the current United States president, many organizations like the SPLC have been digging through the receipts in order to trace exactly where this mega-social monster has been acquiring its financial gains. Through these thorough investigations, it has been unearthed by Sludge that at least 38 hate groups and hate figures have paid Facebook nearly $1.6 million to run 4,921 sponsored ads.

Of that nearly $2 million, $542,000 was spent by anti LGBTQ groups and the most, almost $960,000, was spent by anti-immigration groups.

These figures are also only reflective of the data that has been gathered since Facebook made this information public, which began in mid-2018, said Sludge.

According to Facebook, they are continually studying trends in organized hate and hate speech, and are reviewing the content flagged by Sludge in order to take action against any posts or ads that violate their policies.

While Facebook attempts moderation between what can be considered free speech and what is appropriated deemed hate speech, they continue to hack at the noise through individual, post-by-post analysis. Though algorithms and user flags help with this, it is simply not enough to manage the amount of content that is constantly being shuffled through the website.

From imposters, hackers, and spammers to election interceptors and hate speech iterators, will this be another reason why so many are turning away from Facebook? Or will this just be another drop in the bucket as we continue to sift through the new age and ever morphing digital war field?

Capitalism over content, whether malicious or benevolent, will continue to prevail amidst the landscape of earn first, think later.