Facebook has created a chatbot for its own employees. The chatbot teaches employees how to answer difficult questions about the company to family during the holidays. The bot was created by the company’s PR department.
The chatbot is called Liam Bot, writes the New York Times. According to the paper, the social media company’s public relations department built the bot because many Facebook employees complained that they received difficult questions from friends and family during the holiday season. The bot was first made available to employees before Thanksgiving. The bot has been under development since spring.
Liam Bot has responses to the questions employees would most often get. This concerns topics about which Facebook has come under a lot of fire lately, such as freedom of expression, moderation policy and influencing elections. Employees who ask the bot something will receive a ready-made answer, but also links to blog posts with more information and to faqs. The New York Times saw some of those answers. For example, when asked about moderation policies, the bot says “Facebook has recently hired more moderators,” or the bot says regulation can help in some cases. These are largely standard answers that Facebook gives to new scandals.
The social network has faced many scandals in recent months, including politicians’ fact-checking policies, data misuse, and the company’s influence on elections. Facebook employees themselves also criticize this. Recently, hundreds of them wrote an open letter to the company expressing concerns about company policy.