Facebook to Open First Sub-Saharan Content Review Centre in Nairobi
Facebook has announced that they are opening their first content service in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company in partnership with Samasource, an outsourcing company, will set up a content service in Nairobi which will have approximately 100 reviewers by the end of the year.
Facebook’s Content policy teams have a in important job at Facebook. Facebook in itself has rules against hate speech, revenge porn and many others. Content policy teams write these rules based on their expertise and in consultation with experts around the world. Facebook’s product teams build AI and machine learning tools to help remove this content, but this system cannot catch everything and that is why they needs thousands of content reviewers.
Content reviewers have a hard job of looking at looking at disturbing or violent content and they make decisions on what actions to take. These decisions also take into account the cultural context and Facebook’s Community Standards.
Facebook looks for specific qualifications to be a content reviewer. Language proficiency is key so as to review content in a specific local language. Facebook is a huge community connecting different types of cultures around the world and this is crucial. The other qualification is understanding the culture of a specific community where the reviewer needs to understand certain colloquialisms.
In Kenya, the Content Review Centre will employ approximately 100 reviewers by the end of the year who will support a number of languages, which include Swahili, Somali, Oromo and Hausa.
