Letter Invites Facebook CEO to Conversation With Dr. Hany Farid, Mitch Silber & Lucinda Creighton

(New York, N.Y.) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) today extended an invitation to Facebook Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to join top CEP advisors for a public conversation about the threat posed by extremist content that proliferates on Facebook. This invitation follows Zuckerberg’s public commitment to hosting a series of “public discussions about the future of technology in society.”

In a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg, CEP Chief Executive Officer Ambassador Mark D. Wallace requested his participation in a discussion alongside several CEP advisors uniquely qualified to speak to the real threat posed to the general public by extremist content on Facebook: Dr. Hany Farid, Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College and incoming School of Information and EECS professor at UC Berkeley; Mitchell Silber, Former Director of Intelligence at the NYPD; Lucinda Creighton, former Irish Minister for European Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister and Member of the Irish Parliament; and yours truly - the CEO of CEP and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

“Facebook needs to work with experts if it wants to rid its platform of extremist materials. Individuals at CEP are experts in the policy and science behind online content moderation which can help Facebook better understand how to combat this threat,” said CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace. “We would welcome the opportunity to engage with Mr. Zuckerberg directly and transparently to the benefit of Americans who many times are the targets of extreme content inciting terrorist acts.”

While Mr. Zuckerberg and his team have reaffirmed their commitment to the removal of terrorist content from their platform, media outlets report that terrorist groups have succeeding in using it to recruit new radicals and inspire them to commit acts of violence. CEP wishes to meet Mr. Zuckerberg to highlight concerns regarding Facebook’s policy and technology for content moderation.

The bios for Dr. Farid, Mr. Silber, Ms. Creighton, and Ambassador Mark Wallace are below

Dr. Hany Farid

Dr. Farid is the Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Dartmouth and incoming School of Information and EECS professor at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on digital forensics, image analysis, and human perception. He received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the University of Rochester in 1989 and my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. Following a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, he joined the faculty at Dartmouth in 1999. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and he is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Fourandsix Technologies and a Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project.

Mitchell Silber

Mr. Silber is a founder and principal at the Guardian Group, a security and intelligence advisory firm. Previously, at FTI Consulting, Mr. Silber was the founder and head of the Geopolitical Intelligence practice.  Before FTI, he served for more than three years as the Executive Managing Director of the Threat Intelligence and Data Analytics practice areas at K2 Intelligence.

Prior to his work at K2, Mr. Silber served as Director of Intelligence Analysis at the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) and was responsible for building out and managing the Analytic and Cyber Units. He supervised the research, collection and analysis for the Intelligence Division’s entire portfolio of ongoing terrorism related investigations and was responsible for strategic assessments of emerging and future threats to the City of New York. Mr. Silber was involved in internal planning, development and new unit creation for the department and initiated and managed relations with foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Mr. Silber is a visiting lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (“SIPA”) where he teaches a course on Modern Urban Terrorism. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at SIPA and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the chief executive of Parallel Networks, a new non-profit committed to working with former terrorists to combat violent extremism.

Lucinda Creighton

Lucinda Creighton is the senior advisor to the Counter Extremism in Europe. She is a Barrister, qualified New York attorney, former Irish Minister for European Affairs, Deputy Foreign Minister and Member of the Irish Parliament. She is an experienced political strategist and negotiator. Lucinda has a deep interest and expertise in foreign policy and security issues. She is an Advisory Board member of the Washington DC based International Republican Institute (IRI) as well as being an active Council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The ECFR comprises many former and serving Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and leading academics. In 2016, she founded Vulcan Consulting Ltd, a public affairs consultancy which advises corporate and non-governmental clients on all aspects of EU policy, regulation and political risk.

Mark Wallace

Mark Wallace is a renowned former world leader, and CEO of the Counter Extremism Project since its creation in September 2014. In his capacity as former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mark tackled issues relating to corruption within U.N programmes, famously exposing the ‘Cash for Kim’ scandal in North Korea. Following this, Mark introduced the U.N Transparency and Accountability Initiative (UNTAI), highlighting his ability to tackle systemic issues at the root cause. In addition, he has served in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Principal Legal Advisor to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and received status as a “distinguished” American from the Wall Street Journal. With extensive experience in both the public and private sector, Mark’s wealth of expertise has elevated CEP’s status to a key component to the international fight against extremism.