Faced with a recent spate of violent videos and hate speech posted by users on its network, Facebook has announced plans for a heap of hires: 3,000 new employees worldwide to review and react to reports of harm and harassment.
"Over the last few weeks, we've seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook — either live or in video posted later. It's heartbreaking, and I've been reflecting on how we can do better for our community," CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday in a Facebook post.
"If we're going to build a safe community," he continued, "we need to respond quickly. We're working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner — whether that's responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down."
Zuckerberg said the move significantly expands the company's workforce dedicated specifically to these concerns, increasing its current staff of 4,500 by nearly 70 percent. The hires will be made over the next year.
It's a high-profile announcement for what has become a high-profile problem for the tech giant. In recent months, an elderly man was murdered in Cleveland in a video later uploaded to Facebook; a teenage girl was sexually assaulted in a live-streamed video; and four people were charged with hate crimes for the assault of a man who authorities said had "mental health challenges" in a video that was also streamed on the site.