Facebook set up a team to study Racial Bias on social media

July 23, 2020: After the prolonged against the #StopHateforProfit campaign, the senior executives and the Facebook CEO met the leaders of the black community. However, the results did not seem to be more promising from either side. Facebook did not agree on the terms in which the black community requested this lead with no outcome.

The campaign is supported by many other big brands in the United States. We did not see many changes from Facebook because only a small part of the ad revenue was from the big brands. However, 75% of the revenue of ad placement is from small and medium-sized businesses using the platform.

Facebook, now announced to build a team to study racial bias through its algorithm. The team will look into the algorithm on both Facebook and Instagram as the current social media algorithm can be biased.

Instagram will focus on the equity team that is focused on harassment and biased content within the platform. Facebook will develop a similar team shortly.

“The racial justice movement is a moment of real significance for our company. Any bias in our systems and policies run counter to providing a platform for everyone to express themselves,” Vishal Shah, a vice president of product at Instagram, said via statement. “While we’re always working to create a more equitable experience, we are setting up additional efforts to continue this progress.”

Instagram has said it will take action before Facebook does. Facebook has promised to follow the lead from Instagram to resolve this situation at the earliest.