We have an important role in protecting people and public debate on our platform, and we are focused on that mission. Zuckerberg reportedly turned it down by saying “I don't know what I could do with the money. Our partnerships with third-party security experts are also key as we combat threats. This included 10 discrete steps ranging from “state-prohibited,” where a state actively stops attacks originating from their territory, to “state-integrated,” where the attackers serve as fully integrated resources of the national government. With so many users, Facebook is a target for scams; it can also expose your personal information far beyond your group of friends. His lawyers said it was a form of therapy as well as art. For instance, our teams can find links between accounts that might be coordinating an information operation based on how they interact on Facebook or other technical signals that link the accounts together — while a law enforcement agency could identify additional links based on information beyond our scope. Here is a summary of what we have learned over the years – in many cases lessons that we have had to learn the hard way. That’s 4,000 photos uploaded every second and around 4 per cent of all photos ever taken, according to a study by Nokia. He was convicted on four counts of transmitting threats and sentenced to 44 months in prison. The government said the standard used by lower courts — that Elonis' words on Facebook could be viewed as threats by a reasonable person reading them — was sufficient, and his intent did not have to be proved. If another company identifies a threat, we want to know about it so we can investigate whether the actor or actors behind it are abusing our services as well. Updates reflect shifting attitudes and political pressure but can further complicate the job. A big part of centralizing key information in the war room was receiving valuable information from our government, cybersecurity, and tech industry partners and taking the appropriate action. Academics have written about a variety of methods for attributing activity to cyber actors, but for our purposes we simplify these methods into an attribution model with four general categories. Security experts can never be one hundred percent confident in their timing. "POST-PUNK-PARTY-MUSIC" Sweatthreats@gmail.com Facebook currently supports more than 70 different languages – including English (Pirate) and English (Upside Down). "Federal criminal liability generally does not turn solely on the results of an act without considering the defendant's mental state," Roberts wrote. We recognize the importance of sharing our best assessment of attribution with the public, and despite the challenges we intend to continue our work to find and stop this behavior, and to publish our results responsibly. Now today I just got word from a longtime reader of this Newsletter who just received this threat over Facebook: Note, the reader is not Dave Reiss. At first, Facebook’s policies seem clear enough. As our teams monitored for and rooted out new threats, the government proved especially valuable because of their broader intelligence work. The Guardian has been told some moderators struggle to understand distinctions – and some feel overwhelmed by the task. See for yourself how Facebook polices what users post. This is why today, I want to share more about how we work with each of these groups — and some of the inevitable challenges that come along with this collaboration. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. We have invested heavily in people and technology to detect inauthentic attempts to influence political discourse, and enforcing our policies doesn’t require us to confidently attribute the identity of those who violate them or their potential links to foreign actors. Law enforcement is crucial, too. Facebook says publishing certain images can help children to be rescued. But if we’re still learning as we dig deeper, we’ll likely hold off on taking any action that might tip off our adversary and prompt them to change course. How Do We Work With Our Partners to Combat Information Operations? And how will the threat play into world events? Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. This was the case when we removed 32 Pages and accounts last month. When we identify a campaign, our aim is to learn as much as we can about: the extent of the bad actors’ presence on our services; their actions; and what we can do to deter them. We want to understand their tactics and respond in a way that keeps them off Facebook for good. While we can learn a lot from analyzing our own platforms, law enforcement agencies can draw connections off our platform to a degree that we simply can’t. Elonis was convicted under the latter standard; a majority of justices ruled that's not sufficient. The question that has split federal appeals courts is whether the threats must be intentional, or whether they are illegal just because a "reasonable person" - such as those on the receiving end - takes them seriously. Facebook’s policies on graphic violence, non-sexual child abuse and animal abuse reveal its attempts to remain open while trying to ban horrific images. Last modified on Sun 21 May 2017 15.16 EDT, Counter-terrorism expert says that, contrary to Theresa May’s assertion, technology companies are treating the problem of terrorist content seriously, Leaked guidelines on cruel and abusive posts also show how company judges who ‘deserves our protection’ and who doesn’t, Labour’s Yvette Cooper is among those calling for more transparency from the company in wake of Guardian revelations, Leaked documents show site struggles with with mammoth task of policing content ranging from nudity to sex abuse, Available for everyone, funded by readers. A smartphone user logs into his Facebook account in Rio de Janeiro on April 15, 2013. I kind of like the one I already have.” He definitely made the right choice: Facebook is now valued at $135 billion. This past July, for instance, FireEye, one of our cybersecurity vendors, alerted us to a network of Pages and accounts originating from Iran that were engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior. Tips from government and law enforcement partners can therefore help our security teams attribute suspicious behavior to certain groups, make connections between actors, or proactively monitor for activity targeting people on Facebook. It's one of the only sentences that I'm not allowed to say. This also lets them better protect their own users. 222 likes. The question that has split federal appeals courts is whether the threats made on social media must be intentional to be illegal, Threats on Facebook not illegal unless intentionally malevolent, court, Where the world's super-rich send residential prices soaring, Kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart gave birth to baby girl, Here's what happens now that the Patriot Act provisions expired. As soon as a cyber threat is discovered, security teams face a difficult decision: when to take action. Zuckerberg isn’t much of a Twitter fan. This is particularly true for highly sophisticated actors who are adept at covering their tracks. Decision seen as a blow for groups that defend domestic violence victims The other major organized effort did not include traditional cyber attacks but was instead designed to sow division using social media. When information is coming to us from a law enforcement agency, we need to vet the source and make sure we’re responding the right way based on the credibility of the threat and information we learn from our investigation. The process of attributing observed activity to particular threat actors has been much debated by academics and within the intelligence community.