Three Sri Lankan social media experts have offered to help Facebook monitor Sinhalese language hate-speech and incitement to violence on its pages, after the Silicon Valley company said it needed help from Sri Lankans to monitor content.
Novelist Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Co-Editor of Groundviews, Sanjana Hattotuwa and writer Nalaka Gunewardane had agreed to assist Facebook with monitoring the content following discussions with company executives on Friday morning, Gunewardane told the BBC Sinhala News Service.
“The three of us, who are keen to ensure Facebook is used for the public good, voluntarily agreed to support in any way we could to improve the situation,” Gunewardane said. Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando said earlier that the removal of hate-speech happens too slowly over the social media network. “Facebook says that is because they don’t have enough Sinhalese moderators,” Fernando said.