Sandberg says Facebook ‘has to get better’ on hateful content

Sandberg and Zuckerberg are scheduled to meet with leaders from groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League that have organised a July ad boycott called 'Stop Hate for Profit'. — AP

Facebook Inc chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company needs to get better at removing hateful speech – a response to hundreds of companies that have stopped advertising on the social network for what they consider a failure to purge harmful content.

“Being a platform where everyone can make their voice heard is core to our mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for people to spread hate. It’s not,” Sandberg wrote Tuesday in a post, adding that Facebook “has to get better at finding and removing hateful content”. The post marked her first public comments about the issues raised by civil rights groups since they organised an advertising boycott last month.