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San Francisco (AFP)
A Facebook recommendation algorithm asking users if they want to watch other “primate videos” within a UK desert video showing black people, The New York Times revealed on Friday.
The Daily Mail’s video, which is over a year old, is titled “White Man Calls Cops Against Black Men in the Marina”. It only shows people, not monkeys.
Below, the question “Do you see more primate videos?” The “Yes/Reject” options were shown on some users’ screen, according to a screenshot posted to Twitter by Darci Groves, the social media giant’s former designer.
“It’s disgraceful,” she commented, calling on her former Facebook colleagues to escalate the matter.
“This is clearly an unacceptable mistake,” a Facebook spokesperson responded, at the request of AFP. “We apologize to everyone who saw these insulting recommendations,” he added.
She said the California group deactivated the recommendation tool on this topic “as soon as we noticed what was happening in order to investigate the causes of the problem and prevent its recurrence.”
She continued, “As we said, even though we’ve improved our AI systems, we know it’s not perfect and that we have some progress to make.”
The case highlights the limits of AI technologies, which the platform regularly highlights in its efforts to build a personalized feed for each of its 3 billion monthly users.
They also use it extensively to moderate content, to identify and block problematic messages and photos before they are even seen.
But Facebook, like its competitors, is regularly accused of not fighting racism and other forms of hate and discrimination.
The topic raises more tension as several civil society organizations accuse social networks and their algorithms of contributing to the division of American society, in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrations. count).
© 2021 AFP
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