Meta Platforms on Friday denied that it had assisted China in suppressing political speech by Taiwanese Facebook users, a week after a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker urged the government to address the issue.
The controversy stems from testimony delivered on April 9 to the US Senate by former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, who said that Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg developed censorship tools to aid Beijing in exchange for access to the Chinese market.
The tools included a system deployed in Hong Kong and Taiwan that automatically flagged posts with more than 10,000 views for review by a “chief editor,” Wynn-Williams said.
Photo: REUTERS
The system was designed in close collaboration with Chinese Communist Party officials, who tested the tools and provided feedback to enhance their ability to target specific content and imagery, she added.
Meta Asia-Pacific public policy vice president Simon Milner on Friday told Taiwan-based journalists in a video conference that the accusations were false and unfounded, as Facebook does not operate in China.
Facebook has never censored content from Taiwanese users at the request of the Chinese government, or shared their personal data with the Chinese government, he said, adding that the allegations stem from a former employee who was dismissed eight years ago due to poor performance.
Meta’s content moderation system is based on guidelines developed in collaboration with experts in technology, public safety and human rights, Milner said.
The mechanism targets posts that receive a high volume of user reports in accordance with the guidelines, he said.
The company continuously changes community guidelines to reflect changes in social norms, language and public opinion, he added.
Separately, Meta’s Taiwan branch wrote on Facebook that it “solemnly denies” allegations that the company colluded with Beijing to suppress free speech in Taiwan.
Meta did not allow Beijing to censor content from Taiwanese users, share their personal information with Chinese officials or establish any content moderation team in China, it said.
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