--- title: Whistleblower Says Facebook Is Generating Terror Content description: A study shows ISIS and al-Qaeda are active on the site, and Facebook may be unknowingly generating content like "Memories" videos for them canonical: https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/ author: Amy Gunia article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-10T05:47:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:52:03.014Z article:section: Business og:title: Whistleblower Says Facebook Is Generating Terror Content og:description: A study found Facebook auto-generates content like "memories" for terror groups og:url: https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797a5329010fd515/698949bd4ee2620af73147b5/facebook-generating-terror-content.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: facebook-generating-terror-content og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Whistleblower Says Facebook Is Generating Terror Content twitter:description: A study found Facebook auto-generates content like "memories" for terror groups twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797a5329010fd515/698949bd4ee2620af73147b5/facebook-generating-terror-content.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A New Study Claims Facebook Is Unknowingly Generating Terror Content by [Amy Gunia](/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. May 10, 2019 5:47 AM CUT  A screen grab of a Facebook page for an auto generated Facebook page for a local business, translated into English from Arabic, calling itself 'Islamic State in Sham and Iraq on May 7, 2019. A screen grab of a Facebook page for an auto generated Facebook page for a local business, translated into English from Arabic, calling itself 'Islamic State in Sham and Iraq on May 7, 2019.AP by [Amy Gunia](/author/amy-gunia/) ## Amy Gunia Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong. May 10, 2019 5:47 AM CUT A new study released on Thursday shows that terrorist groups are active on Facebook and the social media company may be unwittingly [generating terrorist content](https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/whistleblower-says-facebook-generating-terror-content-doc-1gb8sy2 "undefined"). A five-month study by the National Whistleblowers Center analyzed the pages of 3,000 members that had connections to terrorist organizations, and found that [ISIS](http://time.com/5579918/isis-leader-appears-in-video/ "undefined") and al-Qaeda are openly networking on the platform, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). It also found that Facebook is auto-generating content like “Memories” videos, and “Local Business” pages, according to AFP. One “Local Business” page for al-Qaeda had [7,410 likes](https://www.whistleblowers.org/news/whistleblower-petition-alleges-that-facebook-is-deceiving-shareholders-and-the-public-about-terror-and-hate-speech-on-its-website/ "undefined"), according to the research. “Facebook’s efforts to stamp out terror content have been weak and ineffectual,” an executive summary of the 48-page document said, according to AFP. Facebook told AFP it had been removing terror-linked content “at a far higher success rate than even two years go” since investing in better technology. The company announced that it is using machine learning to weed out terrorist content in [a statement](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/11/staying-ahead-of-terrorists/ "undefined") late last year. The whistleblower has filed a petition with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Facebook is likely breaking the law for misrepresenting shareholders and the public. **Read More:** [_New Zealand and France to Ask World Leaders to Take a Pledge About Ending Online Terror_](http://time.com/5576992/new-zealand-france-online-terror/ "undefined") Facebook has faced increased scrutiny for its role in online terror since a gunman [live-streamed](http://time.com/5554351/facebook-new-zealand-mosque-shooting-broadcast/ "undefined") 17 minutes of a [New Zealand mosque shooting](http://time.com/5552219/new-zealand-shooting-what-to-know/ "undefined") on the social media platform. Several countries have taken steps to regulate online content since the attack. In early April, Australia passed [legislation](http://time.com/5564851/australia-social-media-law-violence/ "undefined") setting out fines and punishment for social media sites for hate content, and the U.K has proposed making social media executives [personally responsible](http://time.com/5565843/united-kingdom-social-media-regulations/ "undefined") for harmful content shared on their platforms. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/"},"headline":"A New Study Claims Facebook Is Unknowingly Generating Terror Content","datePublished":"2019-05-10T05:47:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:52:03.014Z","description":"A study found Facebook auto-generates content like \"memories\" for terror groups","url":"https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797a5329010fd515/698949bd4ee2620af73147b5/facebook-generating-terror-content.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amy Gunia","jobTitle":"Gunia was a reporter for TIME based in Hong Kong.","url":"https://time.com/author/amy-gunia/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt797a5329010fd515/698949bd4ee2620af73147b5/facebook-generating-terror-content.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"facebook-generating-terror-content","caption":"Facebook Generating Terror Content","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5587108/facebook-generating-terror-content/","name":"A New Study Claims Facebook Is Unknowingly Generating Terror Content"}}]}] ```