Cyber security expert Asela Waidyalankara educated and astonished the public with his clarification as to quite why Facebook was unable to immediately detect hate speech and potentially subversive material published on the social media platform, Facebook. Mr Waidyalankara explained that an analysis of the search requests made during the height of the crisis in the hill country that started off with a road rage incident in Kandy, revealed that two items reached a crescendo of inquiries from the public: “Molotov cocktail” and “How to make a petrol bomb”.
Responding to queries posted by the Newsline host Mr Waidyalankara explained that Facebook uses technology to detect breaches of its rules, adding that the algorithms used by Facebook was unable to detect the nuances, context or even satire when posted in the Sinhala language.
It was because of this reason said Mr Waidyalankara that extremists – from whatever side they professed to support – made full use of Facebook to spread their vile, “bad” messages.
The cyber security expert also explained that the German Chancellor Merkel also experienced similar problems when there appeared to be a surge of anti-Semitic sentiment in German. In that crisis Facebook had outsourced for specialists and brought the matter under control.
The Presidential Secretary had a meeting with officials from Facebook and obtained assurances that the necessary steps will be taken to strictly monitor posts from users. It was also pointed out by security experts that investigators in Sri Lanka will be able to identify users who engage in these illegal activities.
