User safety in today’s digital age is the top priority, especially on platforms as large and ever-evolving as Facebook and Instagram. With over a billion users worldwide, the parent company of the two platforms, Meta, has the daunting responsibility of protecting its users from harmful content, bullying, disinformation, scams, and online harassment.
To address these challenges at scale, Meta uses artificial intelligence (AI) to protect its platforms and make them user-friendly. From content moderation to misinfo identification, AI is the key to policing and improving the online space for millions of users day and night.
Meta’s AI systems operate continuously in the background, scanning billions of bits of content posts, photos, comments, videos, and stories live. Content moderation is one of the core areas where AI is applied. With so many pieces of content uploaded every second, human moderators cannot possibly keep up.
So Meta uses machine learning algorithms to automatically identify and flag objectionable content such as hate speech, nudity, graphic violence, and terrorist propaganda. These AI systems are trained on massive datasets and learn how to identify patterns and language indicating objectionable intent. When AI identifies a policy violation, it can automatically remove the content or flag it for human review.
The second critical safety concern is disinformation and misinformation. Meta’s platforms have been criticized for the dissemination of false or misleading content, especially during elections, pandemics, or crises globally. To combat this, Meta uses the application of AI to check for posts and links on the platform.
These AI systems check for signs of coordinated disinformation campaigns, manipulated media, or posts that have already been fact-checked and flagged by third-party fact-checking organizations. Where disinformation has been detected, Meta reduces its visibility, applies warning labels, or prevents it from being widely shared. Users are also shown context and authoritative content, especially on sensitive topics like politics or health.
AI is also helping to safeguard younger users, a growing concern as more children and teens are on Facebook and Instagram. Meta has developed features that use AI to detect potentially toxic interactions, like an adult sending a child inappropriate messages. For example, Instagram uses AI to monitor patterns of behavior like how often an adult sends messages to users under the age of 18 who do not respond.
If there is suspicious behavior, the system can block the message or alert the user. Meta also uses AI to censor annoying or bullying comments on posts and live streams, making it safer for kids and teens.
Prevention of online bullying and harassment is another key area in which AI is assisting. Meta’s AI technologies can identify abusive language, repeated negative interactions, or threatening messages prior to their delivery to the target.
On Instagram, features such as “Restrict” allow users to silently restrict interactions with bullies without even informing them, while AI works behind the scenes to delete abusive comments and suggest respectful interactions. Facebook also has such features that warn users before they post something that would likely be offensive, prompting them to reconsider.
Artificial intelligence also plays a central role in identifying scams and frauds, most significantly those against consumers in the guise of impersonation, phishing URLs, and imposter accounts. Meta identifies fake profiles using machine learning, which can identify patterns of behavior that include account creation patterns, friend request behavior, message text, and posting frequency.
The instant a suspicious profile is detected, the system can suspend the account, require verification of identity, or remove the account entirely. Automated detection has cut down on the spread of scams, which prevents users from being scammed by internet fraud.
Meta has also utilized AI-powered image and video analysis to prevent the dissemination of injurious visual content. For example, Meta uses hash-matching technology to identify known illicit or injurious images such as images of child exploitation or intimate images taken without consent and prevent their upload on platforms. Even if the image is resized, cropped, or edited, AI can recognize it due to special digital fingerprints. This safeguards victims and takes such content offline prior to dissemination.
Where AI has a significant role to play, Meta is keen to highlight that it doesn’t do it alone. The company joins AI with human moderation, user reporting, and global safety partnerships to make safety initiatives both accurate and culturally aware.
For instance, certain toxic content will be tricky for AI to pick up due to local language or context, and that is where human reviewers step in. User feedback is also in the equation, with users reporting abusive content that trains the AI further and makes it more accurate over time.
Conclusion
In short, Meta’s deployment of AI throughout Facebook and Instagram is an essential part of its mission to make online communities safer and more thoughtful. From detecting misinformation and content moderation to preventing cyberbullying and detecting scams, artificial intelligence helps to find and respond to threats at a pace no human team could match alone.
While not perfect, these models continue to improve and evolve, driven by user input and collaboration with experts. As online communities grow, AI will prove to be a valuable partner in keeping users safe allowing Facebook and Instagram to become not only spaces of connection, but spaces where people can feel safe, informed, and respected.
