Facebook is to create 500 new tech jobs in London by the end of the year with the opening of a new engineering centre in the city, as the platform continues its efforts to make safety and security a “top priority”.
One hundred of those jobs will be in artificial intelligence, Facebook said, and a “significant number” will be in its community integrity team – which is responsible for protecting the safety of Facebook’s users.
The team will focus on building advanced software and AI detection systems to proactively detect and remove malicious content, fake accounts and other harmful behaviour, as well as building human review systems for Facebook’s community operations agents.
According to Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, these new jobs demonstrate the digital giant’s “determination to do everything we can to keep Facebook safe and secure”.
Earlier this year, Facebook’s VP for northern Europe, Steve Hatch, claimed that Facebook would be investing more in user safety and security in 2019 than the entirety of its revenues the year the social media platform IPO’d, which equates to between $10 and $14 million a day.
Mendelsohn added that these new roles also demonstrate the platform’s “commitment to the UK”, with London Facebook’s largest engineering hub outside of the US. By the end of the year, 1800 people will be employed by Facebook in technology and engineering across three London sites.
Commenting on the news, Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright said: “The UK is uniquely placed to spearhead the digital transformation of society and our modern Industrial Strategy aims to use the power of technology to change people’s lives for the better.
“I welcome this new Facebook investment. It is a timely reminder we have the skills, location and language digital firms need to succeed, and a positive step which will see UK expertise helping to develop tech solutions to tackle harmful behaviour worldwide.”
