Facebook Updates Hate Speech Policy – Concerns In The Web Content, Search Portals, And Social Media Market

A short while after Facebook announced the ban of any QAnon-related groups or pages from its platform early in October , the social media conglomerate announced this week that any Holocaust-denial content will now come under its hate speech policy. With the vast amount of easily available material on the internet, it is very common for misinformation to spread rapidly, which can lower a platform’s appeal. In The Business Research Company’s report on the web content, search portals, SEO services and social media market, we find that many users and non-users of social networks such as Facebook have concerns over issues such as these, which is providing a brake to revenues in the market which otherwise continue to grow rapidly. Concerns include IP infringement, censorship, trolling, fake news and inappropriate content, and the difficulties of removing content once posted to sites. Such privacy concerns reduce the potential growth of social networking sites, thus reducing revenues in the market.

Going against its previous decisions on content policing, Facebook is now stating that while free speech is important, it is necessary to minimize the damage caused by denying the Holocaust, especially with the “current state of the world”. An alarmingly large portion of adults in the US consider the Holocaust to be a myth, and thus Facebook users that are looking for content that denies the Holocaust will now be redirected towards credible and factual data.

The global web content, search portals, SEO services and social media market includes by type: internet search portals, digital publishing and content streaming, social media, search engine optimization (SEO) services. The social media market covers social networking, micro blogging and instant messaging, and photo sharing networks. According to the Global Market Model estimates, the web content, search portals, SEO services and social media market size is expected to grow at a rate of 18.5% to nearly $772.9 billion by 2022. Asia-Pacific is the largest market for web content, search portals, SEO services and social media, accounting for almost 37.5% of the global market.

Going forward, the emergence of affordable internet in developing countries, changing social consumer social behavior and rising mobile internet usage will drive growth of the market. A large proportion of advertising budgets has shifted from newspapers and billboards to the internet. Businesses and product manufacturers use digital advertising to build or maintain a brand image and to market products and services to consumers. Forms of e-advertising include viral marketing, web-based marketing and digital audio advertising. The web content, search portals, SEO services and social media market overall consists of the revenues generated from sales of advertising, subscriptions and advisory services by entities that publish and/or broadcast content on the internet exclusively, or operate websites that use a search engine to generate and maintain extensive databases of Internet addresses and content in an easily searchable format, or operate websites that enable customers to interact, create and share content and information or provide advisory services for businesses to optimize their websites.