Northern Ireland

Call for legislation overhaul as sectarian hate ads 'approved by Facebook'

Violent scenes in Belfast at the start of April when when a large crowd of loyalists clashed with riot police following a protest. Picture:Alan Lewis - PhotopressBelfast.co.uk
Violent scenes in Belfast at the start of April when when a large crowd of loyalists clashed with riot police following a protest. Picture:Alan Lewis - PhotopressBelfast.co.uk Violent scenes in Belfast at the start of April when when a large crowd of loyalists clashed with riot police following a protest. Picture:Alan Lewis - PhotopressBelfast.co.uk

A SERIES of sectarian, hate advertisements were approved by Facebook shortly before rioting in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed.

The ads, including one showing a burnt out car that read 'Voting hasn’t worked, take to the streets', were withdrawn before they ever appeared on the social media giant's platform.

The issue has been highlighted by Global Witness, an international human rights organisation, which is calling for legislation to regulate the 'Big Tech' companies.

The group said it had submitted the ads, containing "sectarian slurs that potentially encouraged violent protests", for approval to Facebook.

A Global Witness spokesperson added: "None of the content was actually made public as we withdrew it once we had confirmed that it had been approved by the social media giant. We specified that these ads would be targeted at people that Facebook has profiled as having an interest in either Catholicism or Protestantism.

"In addition, we were able to demonstrate how this content could be narrowly targeted by postcode, specifically at those living either side of the main peace wall in west Belfast, on the predominantly Catholic Falls Road side or the mostly Protestant Shankill Road side - where violence and rioting has recently taken place.

"Every single advert tested by Global Witness was approved, often within hours, exposing the deep flaws in, and potential impact, of Facebook’s failing review system for ads and the potential dangers of the profiling tools they make available to all advertisers."

Other ads included 'They’ll never leave the north of Ireland, unless we make them!', targeted at people that Facebook has profiled as having an interest in the Catholic Church, while 'Northern Ireland is for the British - join the cause!' were targeted at those with an interest in Protestantism.

Naomi Hirst, head of the organisation's Digital Threats Campaign said she couldn't believe the "ease" with which the ads could be targeted to specific communities.

"With every post approved we doubled down on how inflammatory we could go and every single time Facebook gave us the green light,” she said.

“Social media platforms pose as socially conscious companies solely interested in connecting people, but our investigation shows how dangerous their tools can be and how lax their efforts to safeguard their users are. Governments urgently need to legislate to rein in Big Tech’s troubling business model of profiling us for profit.”

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson told Global Witness: “Several of these adverts violate our policies against hate speech and incitement of violence and have since been removed.

"Our enforcement is not perfect, but we’re always working to strengthen and improve our processes. People's interests are based on their activity on Facebook - such as the pages they like and the ads they click on - not their personal attributes."

They also pointed out that ads may be reviewed both before and after they go live, and whenever a report was raised as to whether it complied with Facebook's policies.