Friendship suggestions and Facebook content have approached terrorists

Everyone knows that one of the first things Facebook does when you open an account is to gather some basic information - where you were born and live, studied and worked, among other things. That's because the social networking algorithm is designed to connect users to people with similar interests. This often helps you find that childhood friend you haven't seen in a long time, but on the other hand, it has also helped terrorists locate affairs and sympathizers around the world.

The non-profit organization Counter Extremism Project, which fights extremist groups, has carried out a study about it, which should be published in great detail later this month. According to the initial reports, thousands of followers of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in 96 were introduced to each other precisely by the tools known as "People You May Know" or "Suggested Friends."

Researchers say that by adding just one supporter of the ISIS, you are bombarded by recommendations from dozens of extremists near you. "Facebook, in its eagerness to connect as many people as possible, has recklessly created a system that helps unite extremists and terrorists, " they say.

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Among the examples cited by the survey authors, Gregory Waters and Robert Postings, in the Telegraph issue, is that of a boy who initially had no religion and was just curious to know more about Islam. “In six months it has turned from having no religion to a radical Muslim who supports ISIS.”

Mark Zuckerberg's company responds that "there's no place for terrorists on Facebook." “We work hard to make sure we don't have terrorists or extremist groups using the site and remove any content that compliments or supports terrorism. Our approach is working - 99% of the removed content related to the Islamic State and al Qaeda were found by our automated systems. But there is no easy technical solution to combat online extremism. We have and will continue to invest millions of pounds in people and technology to identify and remove terrorist content. ”

But Waters and Postings say that of the 1, 000 profiles examined, which support ISIS, Facebook only suspended half of its accounts and after six months of reporting. Still, many users, even after being penalized and banned, have been able to return or stay on the social network.

Friendship suggestions and Facebook content have approached terrorists via TecMundo