June 4, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 93 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H4230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PROTECTIONS FROM TERRORIST THREATS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

  (Mr. ROSE of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. ROSE of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today because not nearly 
enough is being done by our social media companies to take down 
terrorist content from their platforms.
  It has been months now since the Christchurch massacre which was 
streamed on Facebook because its artificial intelligence, or IA, was 
not able to or capable of taking it down quickly enough. Now that video 
has been uploaded and re-uploaded hundreds of thousands of times.
  In fact, instead of preventing terrorist content from spreading on 
their platform, as reported by the Associated Press, recently, Facebook 
has been making videos and promoting terrorist content on its own 
system.
  For instance, an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group has an auto-
generated Facebook that has nearly 4,500 likes. The case was profiled 
in the AP story and served as yet another glaring example of Facebook's 
inability to police itself.
  But what is even more striking, is that before coming to speak on the 
House floor today, I checked, and this profile is still up there. This 
profile that the AP reported to Facebook is still up there. Facebook 
does not care right now about our own safety. They are putting their 
own profit before the safety or national security of this very country.
  Madam Speaker, I push for aggressive action here. We need a strong 
public-private partnership, and Facebook has got to come to its senses 
today. It is so important.

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