Facebook Touts Fighting Abuse during U.S. Capitol Attack

Facebook on Thursday said it had tackled abuse on its network surrounding the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

The social network, which has been criticized for allowing some users to orchestrate violence that played out on January 6, also said it fed information to law enforcement agencies during the insurrection.

"We were monitoring the assault in real time and made appropriate referrals to law enforcement to assist their efforts to bring those responsible to account," Facebook vice president of content policy Monika Bickert said during a call with reporters.

Facebook has been helping police identify people who posted photos of themselves from the scene, according to Bickert.

The social network released an update on content removed in the final three months of last year, saying tightened policies and improved artificial intelligence helped it fight abuses while the US election came to a violent crescendo.

"There was a lot that we were doing in the run up to make sure that our services would not be abused," Bickert said.

"Then there's also what we were doing with law enforcement. That's in the run up to the violence; throughout the violence, and afterward."

Graphic video of the attack and evidence of Trump's role in encouraging the violence have been shown at his ongoing Senate impeachment trial.

Trump, who is accused of inciting insurrection, is expected to avoid conviction due to Republican support in the Senate.

Facebook reported it had taken down 6.4 million pieces of organized hate content, up from 4 million in the previous quarter, and 26.9 million pieces of content violating hate speech rules in general.

At Facebook-owned Instagram, 308,000 pieces of organized hate content were removed, up from 224,000 in the previous quarter, while the amount of removed hate speech content in general was up only slightly to 6.6 million items.