Facebook's blacklist: How the network keeps prospective attackers in mind

Facebook searches its social network automatically for threatening comments - so the Group also detects threats that are directed against the company itself. As the broadcaster "CNBC" reported, the group recorded possible attackers in a black list to keep track of them. In some cases, the company also uses its tools to track the location of people if they pose an acute danger.

For example, following a threat from a user against a European Facebook office last year, the company identified its whereabouts and forwarded the information to investigators. Also the guards of the local office were informed.

The company identifies people as problematic on the weekly updated "be on lookout" or "BOLO" list, which has existed since 2008 and today contains hundreds of entries. According to "CNBC," Facebook alerts its security team each time a new person is added to the list and sends out a sort of personal information such as names, photos, general location, and a brief description of why someone has been added. In the past, the photos of the persons were also displayed on a screen to the security team.

Insults as a security risk

According to previous Facebook employees, the blacklist lists people who communicate "inappropriately" or make threats. Similar lists are according to "CNBC" according to also usual with other enterprises - however it is sufficient with Facebook already occasionally, for example, to berate the Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, in order to get on the list.

A former Facebook employee told the broadcaster that statements like "F * you, Mark," "F * Facebook," or "I'm gonna kick your a *" may already be triggers. According to an ex-employee, there are no guidelines for data collection: anyone who gets blacklisted would be within the discretion of the security team and would be decided on a case-by-case basis. A Facebook spokesman denied this to "CNBC". Facebook also uses "industry-standard measures" to "assess and address credible threats of violence against our employees and our company."

Ex-employees are also recorded

Even former employees and project staff are sometimes recorded in the "BOLO" database when they are about to be dismissed. Apparently, the measure also hit ex-workers who were re-invited for job interviews - and then stopped by the security team because they were on the list.

The fear of threats is not completely out of thin air: Last year, for example, a YouTube creature had invaded the headquarters of YouTube and shot at employees. The offices of Instagram and Facebook employees had to be evicted in 2018 after a bomb threat.