The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland has partnered with an AI startup company to tackle hate speech and antisemitism on social media.
The startup, TrollWall AI, specialises in the automatic moderation of comments on social media, based on artificial intelligence (AI) models.
“As a museum, we are active on several social media platforms, primarily on X, Facebook, and Instagram. Every day, we publish posts about events from the history of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, as well as short bios of the victims,” said Paweł Sawicki, who oversees the museum’s social media activities.
Sawicki said the museum is followed on social media by nearly 2.5 million people, receiving between 4,000 and 5,000 comments each day.
“Most of the comments are diverse expressions of remembrance, emotional reactions to the content presented, or strictly historical questions. Unfortunately, some comments violate the memory of the victims, including denial and antisemitic entries,” he added.
“We also experience daily waves of spam, trolling, phishing bots, or disinformation campaigns. Appropriate moderation is a priority for us. We strive to protect our virtual community of remembrance from hate speech.”
The TrollWall AI tool is currently available for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. It can moderate comments in many different languages.
“We have the right to freedom of speech, but not to hate speech. By automatically moderating hateful comments, we create a safe, hate-free online space for those following the museum on social media,” said Tomáš Halász, CEO and co-founder of TrollWall AI.
Tech for a better world
Sawicki added, “Of course, the tool does not fully replace the work of a moderator, but it provides additional security and an extra wall, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
“Moreover, using the system speeds up moderation, allowing us more time to prepare more content for publication.”
Elsewhere, Ocean Park Hong Kong’s conservation foundation is using AI and drones to protect local horseshoe crabs.
Images courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
