Kenya’s ethnic watchdog, National Cohesion And Integration Commission (NCIC) has issued a warning to Facebook to stop the hate speech on its platform within seven days, or risk a ban, as the country is set to go into election next month.

The NCIC reacted to a report by advocacy group Global Witness, and Foxglove, a legal non-profit firm, which fingered Facebook’s inability to detect hate speech ads. A report which was a collaboration of the Global Witness report and that of NCIC findings, reveals that Facebook was slow to prevent hateful content on its platform, fanning an already volatile political environment.

The NCIC has therefore called on Meta, Facebook’s parent company, on moderation before, during, and after the elections, while giving it one week to comply or risk a ban in the country.

According to the NCIC commissioner, Danvas Makori, he disclosed that Facebook continuously violates the laws of the country as they have on several occasion allowed themselves to be a vector of hate speech, incitement, misinformation, and disinformation.

Facebook is said to have a penetration of 82% in Kenya, making it the second most widely used social network in the country, after Whatsapp.

In a response to Kenya’s threat, Facebook has issued a statement, stating that it has been preparing for the country’s 2022 election over the past year, with the help of a dedicated team that is working closely with election authorities and trusted partners in the country.

Facebook has always praised its super efficient AI models for being able to detect hate speech from being circulated on the platform. However, there have been complaints from different countries.

To test Facebook’s claims that its Al models can detect hate speech, Global witness submitted a total of 20 ads that called for violence and beheadings both in English and Swahili. All except one wasn’t approved. The algorithms Facebook currently uses to detect hate speech works only in certain languages.

What this implies is that, with this defect, it has become easy for Facebook to contain the spread of racial and religious hate speeches online in primarily developed countries and communities where global languages like English, Spanish, and Mandarin dominate. But in the rest of the world, it is as difficult as ever.

Unlike the algorithms that Facebook states that automatically detect 80% of hate speeches without the need of a user to report their first, these human moderators do not regularly scan the site for the hate speech themselves. Instead, their job is to decide whether posts that users have already reported should be removed.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking a legal step to stop Facebook parent Meta from purchasing virtual reality (VR) content maker Within Unlimited.

The move is part of the regulator’s anti-monopoly fight that has intensified against Big Tech recently.

A report by Reuters said the FTC, in a request filed on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, called Facebook a “global technology behemoth,” noting its ownership of popular apps including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and said its “campaign to conquer VR” began in 2014 when it acquired Oculus, a VR headset manufacturer.

Deciding through 3-2 vote, the FTC argued that the acquisition portrays monopoly given Facebook’s influence in the VR market. The social media company’s acquisition of Oculus has already given it a dominant position in the market.

Facebook agreed to buy Within, which has a popular fitness app called “Supernatural”, in October 2021 for an undisclosed sum. Within was founded in 2014 and has since become a big name in creating original content for virtual reality.

The FTC separately had filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook in 2020. The Commission has become more proactive since Lina Khan was appointed its chair last year.

The ultimate goal is to limit the freedom of the Big Tech, flexing their financial muscle, from buying every company they see as a competitor.

Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been subjects of debate in the US Congress in recent times over anti-competition inquiries. Meta’s acquisition of Instagram was a reference point.

The FTC’s lawsuit against Meta denotes the regulator’s stern position on further acquisition by any member of the Big Tech, particularly companies in the same line of business with the tech firms.

Meta said in a statement that it disagreed with the FTC’s analysis of the market.

“The FTC’s case is based on ideology and speculation, not evidence. The idea that this acquisition would lead to anticompetitive outcomes in a dynamic space with as much entry and growth as online and connected fitness is simply not credible,” the company said.

“We are confident that our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers, and the VR space,” Meta said.

The FTC has maintained that the acquisition is monopolistic. In its complaint, the Commission argued that the planned acquisition was a way for Meta to dominate virtual reality. VR industry revenues are expected to grow from $5 billion last year to more than $12 billion in 2024, the FTC said in its complaint.

Meta already has the best-selling VR headset, the Quest 2, and controls a Meta Quest Store with hundreds of apps. It has bought game makers like Beat Games, Sanzaru and Ready at Dawn Studios, among others, the complaint said.

“Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within’s popular Supernatural app,” said John Newsman, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, in a statement. “But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief.”