Facebook is connecting people all over the world — especially ISIS supporters

Facebook is a perfect tool for bringing people together — particularly supporters of the Islamic State group.

Research by the Counter Extremism Project claims Facebook's algorithms are enabling sympathizers of the extremist group to connect and radicalize others across the network.

First reported by the Telegraph, the study reveals Facebook is doing far too little to combat extremism, with the network removing less than half of the ISIS-supporting profiles researchers monitored within six months.

“Facebook, in their desire to connect as many people as possible, have inadvertently created a system which helps connect extremists and terrorists,” Robert Postings, one of the researchers, told the Telegraph.

According to the report, which will be published in full later this month, Facebook’s algorithms routinely introduce users with radical Islamist sympathies to others who hold similar views via the “suggested friends” feature.

The research highlighted one case where an Indonesian ISIS supporter sent a friend request to a non-Muslim user in New York in March 2017.

While the U.S.-based user said he was interested in Islam, he also said he was non-religious. However, interactions between the two over several months saw the Indonesian user send increasingly radical messages and links, including pro-ISIS propaganda — all of which were liked by his target.

“Over a period of six months the [U.S.-based user] went from having no clear religion to becoming a radicalized Muslim supporting ISIS,” Postings said.

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Postings’ colleague Gregory Waters said Facebook’s own system should not be making it easy for extremists to communicate and spread hate. “The fact that Facebook's own recommended friends algorithm is directly facilitating the spread of this terrorist group on its site is beyond unacceptable.”

ISIS is proficient in using social media to spread its message around the world, though it recently suffered a blow to its online infrastructure when U.S. and European police torpedoed Amaq, one of the group’s biggest online propaganda machines.

Facebook has boasted that 99 percent of extremism content from groups such as al Qaida and ISIS is automatically removed from the platform before it can be shared, but the network admits there is no perfect solution.

“There is no easy technical fix to fight online extremism,” a Facebook spokesperson told VICE News, adding: “We have and will continue to invest millions of pounds in both people and technology to identify and remove terrorist content.”

Until they do find a fix, Facebook will continue to be hit with criticism from countries such as Myanmar and Sri Lanka, who have recently complained that the network is being used as a key tool in fomenting violence and hatred.

Cover image:The logo of social network Facebook displayed on a screen and reflected on a tablet in Paris. (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images)