Facebook finally to build customer service department to handle complaints — report

Facebook’s parent company Meta is working on launching a customer service department to deal with complaints about content and help recover blocked accounts, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Meta has increasingly used artificial intelligence to filter and moderate content. This has sometimes led to users’ accounts being banned with little recourse, as it is nearly impossible to reach a human representative at the company to review complaints and appeals.

“How do we provide care and customer service and responsiveness to people about why their content has been taken down or why their accounts are taken down?” Brent Harris, Meta’s vice president of governance, told Bloomberg.

He said the company was “spending a bunch of time on” improving customer service, though he did not give further details.

Facebook and Meta have faced growing criticism in recent years over the negative and harmful consequences of their social network algorithms, with accusations that the platform helps fuel societal divisions and propagate false information. It has also been accused of repeatedly favoring profit over the good of its users.

The Bloomberg report said the effort to improve customer service came as a result of the work of Facebook’s Oversight Board, an independent panel the company set up in 2020 to review its policies and conduct on content moderation.