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Facebook Says Using AI to Fight Terrorism on Its Platform

FILE - . In a blog post Wednesday, May 3, 2017, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company will hire another 3,000 people to review videos of crime and suicides following murders shown live. (AP Photo/, File)

NEW YORK – Facebook says it’s using artificial intelligence to help it combat terrorists’ use of its platform.

The company’s announcement comes as it faces growing pressure from government leaders to identify and prevent the spread of content from terrorist groups on its massive social network.

Facebook officials said in a blog post Thursday that the company uses AI to find and remove “terrorist content” immediately, before users see it. This is a departure from Facebook’s usual policy of only reporting suspect content if users report it first.


They also say that when the company receives reports of potential “terrorism posts,” it reviews those reports urgently. In addition, it says that in the rare cases when it uncovers evidence of imminent harm, it promptly informs authorities.