--- title: Is This Hate Speech? A Facebook Bug Is Freaking Everyone Out description: A temporary Facebook glitch prompted users to point out hate speech in every single post canonical: https://time.com/5261616/facebook-hate-speech-bug/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-01T19:00:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:33.156Z og:title: Is This Hate Speech? A Facebook Bug Freaked Everyone Out og:description: People took to Twitter with their thoughts on the Facebook glitch og:url: https://time.com/5261616/facebook-hate-speech-bug/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is This Hate Speech? A Facebook Bug Freaked Everyone Out twitter:description: People took to Twitter with their thoughts on the Facebook glitch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Is This Hate Speech? People Had a Lot of New Opinions About That Facebook Bug by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 1, 2018 7:00 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 1, 2018 7:00 PM UTC For a brief window on Tuesday, anyone logging on to [Facebook](http://time.com/5261703/facebook-dating-app/) saw a question at the end of each post asking if the post contained hate speech. To be clear: Every [Facebook](http://time.com/5257480/facebook-parents-kids-messenger-apps/) post was followed with the query, whether it was a friend posting a picture of a puppy, your auntie sharing a story from church, or a cooking magazine touting a recipe for crepes, or a restaurant promoting Mother’s Day Brunch options. Each were followed by a button asking users to indicate whether the post contained hate speech and the option to click yes or no. The “feature” was live for less than half an hour on [Facebook](http://time.com/5257751/oculus-go-release-date-review/), according to [_Ars Technica_](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/05/facebook-begins-asking-if-every-post-you-see-is-hate-speech/), who tested the system. Reportedly if you click “no” the prompt disappears, while clicking “yes” led to a pop-up box with follow-up questions. Turns out the question was merely a bug, [per Facebook’s VP of Product Guy Rosen](https://twitter.com/guyro/status/991348768757829632), that stemmed from [an internal test](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-hate-speech-button-accidentally-launches-2018-05-01/) that some are guessing was to teach an A.I. how to identify different types of speech, including hate speech. The hate-speech prompt was only live for an hour, but that was more than enough time for social media users to spot it and take to Twitter with their reactions. > [](https://twitter.com/PhilJamesson/status/991331991420325888) > [](https://twitter.com/arawnsley/status/991337234308755457) > [](https://twitter.com/AndrewWMullins/status/991337021556822023) > [](https://twitter.com/tinypatron/status/991336485386358788) > [](https://twitter.com/Navin%5FDas%5F/status/991363489951371265) > [](https://twitter.com/jeremydstanley/status/991337194647359488) > [](https://twitter.com/unity451/status/991343574833758208) > [](https://twitter.com/Linktm/status/991337091542994946) > [](https://twitter.com/bafeldman/status/991335153455820801) > [](https://twitter.com/CoryThone/status/991348623974813696) > [](https://twitter.com/MsRachelAyn/status/991338035236261889) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5261616/facebook-hate-speech-bug/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5261616/facebook-hate-speech-bug/"},"headline":"Is This Hate Speech? 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