Facebook has frequently come under fire for its seemingly questionable moves in determining what is or isn't acceptable for users to see or post on its platform.
And that wasn't the first time that such claims have been made.
Apparently the image contents violated the ban on child nudity that Facebook has in place. It's interesting though that on other occasions people will claim that Facebook is slow to removing questionable posts that might relate to child abuse. In some instances, allegedly failing to remove those child abuse posts for well over a year.
After many people criticized that move of theirs, to crackdown on the Napalm Girl imagery, they backtracked and admitted that the image had historical significance.
It's alleged that Israeli officials have already submitted hundreds of requests to Facebook to have certain posts removed.
Israeli security agencies allegedly frequently monitor the platform, looking for posts that might constitute incitement.
Journalists also say that they've been censored and booted from Facebook after making anti-government posts. And if people are going to have their message censored on the platform then it's only a matter of time before they go looking for other options.
It's a little strange when you've got the biggest social network in the world enabling live streams of assaults and murders and then removing Vietnam War photos and posts heavy in anti-government rhetoric. They don't seem to employ the same crackdown methods on American public figures when they post, calling for aggression against their enemies overseas. There's not much sense to the madness.
Facebook and other tech giants are likely to submit to and obey the world's most powerful factions and therefore power is going to drive the censorship. And quite often it will be innocent critics who are getting swept up in the hate speech battle. For those who think that Facebook is there to provide marginalized groups with a tool to help them fight, to have their voices heard, that might be a bit of a pipe dream. It's safe to assume that they are going to want certain critics to be silenced.
Pics:
via Vocativ
via Forbes
via Wired
Sources:
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/12/facebook-is-collaborating-with-the-israeli-government-to-determine-what-should-be-censored/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/world/asia/myanmar-government-facebook-rohingya.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/20/facebook-rohingya-muslims-myanmar
http://www.vocativ.com/431298/facebook-journalist-malta-censorship/index.html
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/30/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-accounts-at-the-direction-of-the-u-s-and-israeli-governments/
https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-too-big-to-delete/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shenegotiates/2011/09/15/want-peace-remind-opponent-that-people-change/#52577e2371a4
https://sputniknews.com/science/201712301060438026-dangers-of-facebook-censorship/