How does Facebook censor posts?
It’s no secret that Facebook is the world’s largest social network. But Facebook doesn’t disclose how many times people post, how many live videos are streamed or how many posts it’s deleted.
There are more people using Facebook daily than there are citizens of any country on Earth. Breaking news is often first placed on Facebook before any other outlet, and many users use it as their sole source of news.
Posting journalism, sale offers, political messages, and more directly to Facebook is now the rule rather than the exception.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was never elected to any office. But he’s built one of the most important and powerful websites in the world, and he makes decisions that affect all of us. One of the biggest decision being what users see on their feed.
So how does Facebook censor posts?
There are numerous teams working around the clock scanning the site working in offices around the world — Austin, Texas; Dublin, Ireland; Hyderabad, India; and its Menlo Park, California, headquarters — who process millions of reports a week. Predominately, these teams rely on its users to call out questionable behavior.
Facebook weighs the value of removing content on a case-by-case basis. So just because someone reports a post doesn’t necessarily mean it will be removed.
Facebook wants to be a place where people feel free to express themselves within reason. And they have touted “counter speech” as an alternative to censorship. The idea is that someone who responds to a hateful post by saying it’s wrong will have more impact than merely removing that post in the first place.
“But what about my first amendment rights?”
According to CNET:
Freedom of speech isn’t what you think it is. The beginning phrase of the First Amendment to the US Constitution says “Congress shall make no law…” That means, within reason, the government doesn’t mess with what you say. But Facebook isn’t the government. It can set rules pretty much however it wants.
The company does largely comply with law enforcement and has said it’s responded to about 20,000 law enforcement requests over a five-month period last year.
Facebook also contacts the authorities in cases where it believes there’s imminent danger or a credible threat of violence.
You can read Facebook’s full community standards here.
Ultimately, Facebook censors operate under a cloak of anonymity, with no accountability to users. And Facebook will always have the power to censor as long as you remain logged in.
(H/T: CNET)
Follow Stephen Rowe on Twitter!
