Mark Zuckerberg finally addresses the string of violent deaths on Facebook

Facebook has unintentionally played host to an unfortunate string of horribly violent incidents over the last few months and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is finally addressing the issue head-on.

In a new post on his personal Facebook account, the young leader announced the company will be expanding its operations team – which already has over 4,500 members – with 3,000 new hires in order more efficiently respond to and deal with violence-related reports.

Here is the full post:

The move seeks to make the social media giant a safer platform for users. Zuckerberg says the new hires will be responsible for monitoring the website for potentially offensive and violent content like hate speech and child exploitation.

He further added the company will “keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it.”

In addition to ramping up its operations team workforce, Zuckerberg said the company is “building better tools to keep our community safe,” which he hopes will go a long way to making the Facebook community “safer.”

Facebook recently faced a heated backlash for purportedly turning a blind eye to reports of terrorism and child abuse on its website.

Among other things, the social media titan took more than two weeks remove the footage of a 12-year-old girl’s suicide from its platform.

Earlier in April, the now-notorious Cleveland murderer Steve Stephens livestreamed himself brutally murdering 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. on Facebook Live. Later during the same month, a Thai man ended his 11-month-old daughter’s life in another tragic Facebook livestream.

While we’ll likely have to remain patient before we get to see the new measures breed any meaningful changes, the increased efforts towards curbing abuse on the platform is certainly a step in the right direction.