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Facebook unveils new policies to tackle hate, terror groups

Facebook Inc. is making changes to the way it handles extremist groups and hate organizations on its platform and Instagram LLC, a day before it is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on digital responsibility.

Facebook said it expanded the way it uses automated techniques and machine learning to identify and remove a wider range of organizations. These include both terrorist groups and hate organizations. The social network said it banned over 200 white supremacist organizations since expanding the scope of the automated techniques. Facebook removed over 26 million pieces of content related to global terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida in the last two years.

Facebook developed a definition of "terrorist organizations" to guide its decision-making on enforcing against these organizations. In addition, the company expanded an initiative to give people resources to leave hate groups. Users who search for terms associated with white supremacy are led to focus groups dedicated to helping users leave such groups. The initiative was previously available in the U.S. Facebook already expanded it to Australia and Indonesia.

The social media giant now has a 350-people team comprising national security and counterterrorism experts among others. This team is dedicated to combating content related to ISIS, al-Qaida and their affiliates, and "further building out techniques to identify and combat the full breadth of violence and extremism" covered under the company's Dangerous Organizations policy, Facebook said in a Sept. 17 blog post.

On Sept. 18, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing titled, "Mass Violence, Extremism, and Digital Responsibility." According to a committee announcement, the hearing will "examine the proliferation of extremism online and explore the effectiveness of industry efforts to remove violent content from online platforms." Monika Bickert, head of global policy management at Facebook, Nick Pickles, public policy director at Twitter Inc., and Derek Slater, global director of information policy at Google LLC, are all expected to testify.