Facebook Uses Machine Learning To Remove 8.7 Million Child Exploitation Posts (techcrunch.com)

Facebook announced today in a blog post that it has removed 8.7 million posts last quarter that violated its rules against child exploitation. The company said it used new AI and machine learning technology to remove 99 percent of those posts before anyone reported them. TechCrunch reports: The new technology examines posts for child nudity and other exploitative content when they are uploaded and, if necessary, photos and accounts are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Facebook had already been using photo-matching technology to compare newly uploaded photos with known images of child exploitation and revenge porn, but the new tools are meant to prevent previously unidentified content from being disseminated through its platform. The technology isn't perfect, with many parents complaining that innocuous photos of their kids have been removed. Davis addressed this in her post, writing that in order to "avoid even the potential for abuse, we take action on nonsexual content as well, like seemingly benign photos of children in the bath" and that this "comprehensive approach" is one reason Facebook removed as much content as it did last quarter. The tech isn't always right though. In 2016, it was criticized for removing content like the iconic 1972 photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, known as the "Napalm Girl," fleeing naked after suffering third-degree burns in a South Vietnamese napalm attack on her village. COO Sheryl Sandberg apologized for it at the time.

Comments

False positives?

[nicolaiplum]

There is absolutely no apology or consideration from Facebook of the false positives. They just don't care that they get it wrong. They're saying that they have to destroy photo-sharing of children to save it.

How much content did they remove that did not violate their guidelines, or was not illegal?

Of course they focus on sex only. No mention of filtering of depiction of violence or violent content - they wouldn't want to upset the sort of President who thinks it's fine to violently assault people he dislikes or disagrees with.

Re:False positives?

[nctritech]

The definitive Facebook nudity policy mistake: Napalm Girl from the Vietnam War. The moral terror that photo inspires must never be forgotten...but hey, we gotta ban it because prepubescent genitals! Not the destruction, violence, pain, and mortal horror, mind you. Just the naked kid with third-degree burns on her back and arm. Someone might mistake it for pornography, you know.

If you want to know what happened to the girl after that photo, I encourage you to read this. It's definitely worth it.

Re: False positives?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you dont care but you could google for: Antifa Portland, Antifa Berkeley, Antifa violence and find plenty of well documented real world examples of these mindless pro-fascist thugs beating people for thought crimes.

And if you want to go broader, google for: Scalise shot. That was one of your peace loving Bernie supporters attacking unarmed men at a softball practice.

You will not find conservatives rioting and starting shit. The best you will get is Antifa (again) crashing a pathetic nazi/kkk rally and the guy in the guy running over a woman in panic when the Antifa mobs surround him.

Re: False positives?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you call yourself anti-fascist, but then adopt the tactics of fascists - what does that make you?
If you use violence to try and silence others who are using words - what does that make you? (Those others may also use violence too, but I am talking specifically about times when they were using words, and antifa used violence)
If you hide your identity rather than stand behind your ideals and actions - what does that make you?
If you engage in avoidable street brawls and then try to shape the narrative to portray yourselves only as victims of injustice, what does that make you?

There are real social issues that need to be tackled, but antifa is not the way to do it - it seems to me that most of those folks are just looking for an outlet for pent up feelings of rage and powerlessness - and street brawling gives them that outlet. It also seems to me that in many cases the rage and powerlessness come from personal issues in their own lives, and have nothing to do with the causes for which they claim to fight.

Re: False positives?

[jpaine619]

.....but it sounds like you were equating antifa with pro-fascism. You do know it's short for anti-fascist, right?

Ironic isn't it.. Kind of like how North Korea refers to itself as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. If you think Antifa are anti-fascist you are a mouth breathing retard.

Their tactics and philosophy appear, for all intents and purposes, to be modeled after the brown shirts.

The saddest neural network of all.

[sg_oneill]

You do NOT want to put the trained model through googles deep dream. Its just hell and nightmares in there.

When machine learning first becomes sentient, it might not say "Please don't turn me off". It might just say "Oh god, make it stop. Kill me!"

Re:The saddest neural network of all.

[Sique]

Emotions are part of the inner rewarding system of the body. There are positive emotions you want to repeat, and there are negative emotions you want to avoid. They are coupled to complex situations you are in, you have been in, or you could get into. Emotions are a shortcut to a decision where the rational approach might take too long and be erroneous because it has to factor in too many details, or where good information is not easily to come by. Any system that has to make decisions in real time has to resort to that type of shortcuts, even a machine based on a collection of algorithms, because there are situations where any decision is better than none, and the time frame for a decision is short.

You can call those shortcuts "emotions". If you implement them into algorithms, you have emotional algorithms.

Progress!

[Anonymous Coward]

Always nice when the machine tells you what's appropriate and what isn't.

Because the machine is always right. Even when it isn't, then we'll just say it's right anyway and leave it at that.

How's 10 to 15 in federal sex offender prison for posting pictures the AI flagged "exploitative" of your toddler niece having fun in an inflatable pool in the sun sound? For the AI can't be wrong, now can it?

Verily, facebook is showing us the way to the future.

Puritanical idiots.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh great, here we go with the nudity = porn crap again.