WATCH: Facebook’s UK head of content policy Fadzai Madzingira on verification measures aren’t always possible

As the global north, in particular the UK’s football scene is dealing with high profile cases of social media abuse, Facebook’s UK head of content policy Fadzai Madzingira has spoken on verification measures aren’t always possible.

In an interview on BBC, she was asked if Facebook should start implementing verification systems such as Government IDs, passports and other proof of residence, she said that there were concerns.

Madzingira said, “There’s a couple of things when you start thinking about identification. I’m Zimbabwean, so I don’t get access to an ID or a passport until about 18 or 19 years old and I’m middle class so we had the relevant priviledge and money to get that sort of documentation.”

She adds that such a move would disenfranchise a massive group. She also made reference to individuals such as in the LBGTI+ community who might not be able come out but still need access to services who might be denied service.

Watch the clip in which she articulates further reasons below:

Meanwhile, football bodies in the UK have called on Facebook and Twitter to do more to deal with online abuse, saying, “Posts should be filtered and blocked before being sent, measures to take down abusive material if in circulation, users should be subject to an improved verification process, platforms should actively assist investigating authorities.”

The bodies went on to call the platforms ‘havens for abuse’.

Our quick sidebar: The issues in the UK are a massive reality and any form of abuse must be treated with disdain. As shown by the new policies announced Instagram (owned by Facebook) to combat abuse, there is more that they can do. That said, the idea of giving the social media companies your ID and bank accounts among other things a mandatory for use of service is horrifying. It means the last death knell in privacy and the death of the nation state as it means human beings who rely a lot on these services will become answerable to social media companies. And the governments need to be careful as nation states and their powers are being eroded. Once you hand over these keys to the companies, it means at some point they will have the power to decide not to action what the government directs them to because they have the power and citizens rely more on the platforms than they do the government. And to Madzingira’s point on some being left out, the epistemic crisis is already huge in the world with some getting more knowledge than others because of priviledge. The position she offered when she mentioned the Zimbabwe experience is the where the majority of the world finds itself. It will accelerate the increasing balkanisation of the Internet resulting in even higher polarisation. As they say, be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.

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