Facebook Allows Abuse Through Non-English Words

Last month, I noticed some posts on Facebook pages that I follow. Because these pages receive a huge number of comments on a single post, they are unable to review every one of them. Here is what happens as a result.

Some bad actors — even from different countries — start posting abusive content in their local language that others can understand. Because the language is not English, Facebook's automated moderation systems fail to detect it.

There are two design flaws on Facebook that make this worse.

First, posting a comment takes just a few keystrokes, but reporting an abusive comment requires multiple clicks through several menus. This asymmetry means a user must spend several minutes to report a single abusive comment — a frustrating and inefficient process.

Second, when I reported two clearly abusive comments, Facebook responded by saying they found no evidence of a violation in the comments I reported. This is a weak and dismissive response.

The accounts posting this abuse have suspicious profiles — fake profile pictures and little to no authentic content — yet they continue to operate freely.

If Facebook is unable or unwilling to address this kind of abuse, it raises a valid question about the value of using the platform at all.