Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg vowed to address issues with Facebook’s ad targeting system following reports that exposed offensive language that could be used to target users of the social media giant.
In a lengthy letter posted to her Facebook account Wednesday, Sandberg said seeing the words “Jew-hater” or “how to burn Jews” — phrases ProPublica successfully used to test on Facebook’s “promoted posts” — made her “disgusted and disappointed.”
“Hate has no place on Facebook – and as a Jew, as a mother, and as a human being, I know the damage that can come from hate,” Sandberg wrote. “The fact that hateful terms were even offered as options was totally inappropriate and a fail on our part.”
Sandberg said that Facebook is now taking three steps to address the flaws in its ad targeting procedures: tightening enforcement against content that is discriminatory, adding more human review to previously automated processes, and creating a program to encourage Facebook users to report any potential abuses of the advertising platform.
“We hope these changes will prevent abuses like this going forward,” Sandberg wrote.
https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10159255449515177
You can read Sandberg’s full letter in the embed above.