Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was on hand at a special event in Berlin on Tuesday to announce the Online Civil Courage Initiative. The objective, according to Sandberg and members of public safety groups at the event, is to combat "extremism and hate speech on the Internet."(Links in original throughout).Facebook will work across Europe to combat the spread of hate speech. More specifically, it's pledging over 1 million euros ($1.09 million) to focus on financially supporting organizations that fight online extremism, as well as help researchers, companies, and governments, find ways to understand and disrupt online extremism.
[Facebook Pledges Formal Crackdown on Hate Speech in Europe, by Don Reisinger, PCMag, January 19, 2016]
The PCMag report concludes:
In the U.S. they have been more reluctant to do so, citing free speech. In 2013, however, Facebook did pledge to review its hate speech policies to ensure content on its site did not promote violence against women.For now.This deal does not change that; the agreement only applies to those in Europe.
Facebook is tellingly obscure about how you contact it, but its investor relations page offers various ways to report abusive content, which Sandberg's Berlin announcement certainly is.