Facebook to Remove Social 493b63 Political Group Recommendations, Block Rule-Breaking

Facebook also said it would show rule-breaking groups' content lower in ' news feeds. 5z30v

By Reuters | Updated: 18 March 2021 10:07 IST

Facebook to Remove Social, Political Group Recommendations, Block Rule-Breaking

Facebook said it would require group s to temporarily approve posts for groups 296n6d

Highlights

Since 2017, Facebook has made groups a strategic priority
Facebook stopped recommending health groups to s
Newly created groups on any topic would need to wait 21 days

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Facebook said on Wednesday it is starting to remove the recommendations it gives global s for political and social issue Facebook groups, a move it has billed as turning down tension on the site.

The company also announced in a blog post changes aimed at reducing the reach of groups that break site rules, including showing them lower in algorithmic recommendations and alerting people when they go to a group that has previously violated policies.

Researchers and civil rights organisations have long warned that Facebook groups, a product the company has vigorously promoted as providing places for people with common interests, like sports or music, have also been used to spread misinformation and organize extremist activity.

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In an interview on Tuesday, Tom Alison, Facebook's vice president of engineering, said Facebook was aggressively investing in groups.

He said the changes to political and civic group recommendations, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on an earnings call in January, were due to s wanting to see less political content.

"They want us to turn down the temperature a little bit," said Alison.

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He said newly created groups on any topic would need to wait 21 days before becoming eligible for recommendation in order to give Facebook time to understand how a group would operate.

Since 2017, Facebook has made groups a strategic priority, and Zuckerberg credits the feature as a way to foster "meaningful connections." Last year, it stepped up promotion of groups in news feeds and search engine results.

But during the stopped recommending health groups to s, saying they needed authoritative sources of information. It also cracked down on certain groups in recent months as part of policy changes to curb "militarised social movements."

In the months before the US election and the January 6 Capitol assault, Facebook groups buzzed with misinformation and violent rhetoric. "Stop the Steal" groups rapidly swelled despite the pauses on recommendations.

Facebook said on Wednesday it would require group s to temporarily approve posts for groups with a "substantial" number of rule-breaking or who were part of other groups removed for rule violations.

It also said it would show rule-breaking groups' content lower in ' news feeds and temporarily stop repeat rule-breaking from being able to post or create new groups.

Facebook's Alison declined to say what criteria would determine when a rule-breaking group or its would be removed from the platform.

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