Former Facebook employee reveals secret censorship system designed to work in China

Some time ago, former Facebook✴ Global Policy Director Sarah Wynn-Williams accused the company of creating an automated censorship system to adapt to the strict requirements of the Chinese market, which contradicts the principles of free speech publicly declared by Meta✴ CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Now details have become known about how this “Chinese system” worked.

Image source: Mark Zuckerberg

According to a complaint filed by Wynn-Williams with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the social network Facebook✴ sought to gain a foothold in China by creating a version of the platform that complied with local laws. To do this, a special team was formed in 2014 to work on a project codenamed Project Aldrin, TechSpot reports.

One of the key conditions for cooperation with the Chinese authorities was storing data of users from China and Hong Kong on servers inside the country, which was supposed to facilitate the government’s access to citizens’ personal information. In addition, Facebook✴ offered to involve a Chinese investment fund to monitor content and hire hundreds of moderators to remove prohibited materials.

In this regard, according to Wynne-Williams, in 2015 the company developed an automatic censorship system that removes prohibited terms. There was also discussion of appointing a chief editor who could control the content published on the Chinese version of Facebook✴. His powers included removing posts that did not comply with the policies of the Chinese authorities, and even completely shutting down the platform in the event of mass protests in the country.

The complaint also alleges that in 2017, Facebook✴ restricted the account of Chinese businessman Guo Wengui for criticizing the Chinese government. At the time, the company officially attributed the action to a privacy violation, but sources say the action was taken to curry favor with Chinese officials.

Meta✴ spokesman Andy Stone confirmed that the company had indeed considered entering the Chinese market, but abandoned those plans in 2019. He stressed that the accusations came from a former employee who was fired eight years ago for poor performance, and the fact that the company was trying to collaborate with China was no secret.

At the same time, after 2019, Zuckerberg began to criticize censorship in China. For example, he recently announced that Meta✴ would make free speech a priority, lift a number of restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender, and change the moderation system, leaving only the fight against extremism, fraud, and crimes against children.