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Alter: template type, title. Add: magazine, newspaper. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Whoop whoop pull up | Category:Censorship | #UCB_Category 20/113
→‎Search function: Merged == COVID-19 vaccine whistleblowing content == from Criticism_of_Facebook#Censored_whistleblowing_content
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[[File:Facebook Censorship Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The warning box that appears when Internet users try to view censored or blocked content on Facebook]]
[[File:Facebook Censorship Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The warning box that appears when Internet users try to view censored or blocked content on Facebook]]
'''[[Facebook]]''' has been involved in multiple controversies involving censorship of content, removing or omitting information from its services in order to comply with company policies, legal demands, and government [[censorship]] laws.
'''[[Facebook]]''' has been involved in multiple controversies involving censorship of content, removing or omitting information from its services in order to comply with company policies, legal demands, and government [[censorship]] laws.

== COVID-19 vaccine whistleblowing content ==
On 2 November 2021, ''[[The BMJ]]'' published a piece by journalist [[Paul D. Thacker]] alleging there has been "poor practice" at [[Ventavia]], one of the companies involved in the phase III evaluation trials of the Pfizer vaccine.<ref name="BMJ-20211102">{{cite journal |vauthors=Thacker PD |title=Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer's vaccine trial |journal=BMJ |volume=375 |issue= |pages=n2635 |date=November 2021 |pmid=34728500 |doi=10.1136/bmj.n2635 |s2cid=240424253 |url= |quote=A regional director who was employed at the research organisation Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported}}</ref>

The BMJ sent an [[open letter]] to Mark Zuckerberg explaining that "from November 10, readers began reporting a variety of problems when trying to share our article. Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about “Missing context ... Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share “false information” might have their posts moved lower in Facebook’s News Feed. Group administrators where the article was shared received messages from Facebook informing them that such posts were “partly false.” Readers were directed to a “fact check” performed by a Facebook contractor named Lead Stories.".<ref>{{cite web |title=Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635/rr-80 |language=en |date=17 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials {{!}} Lead Stories |url=https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/11/fact-check-british-medical-journal-did-not-reveal-disqualifying-and-ignored-reports-of-flaws-in-pfizer-vaccine-trial.html |website=leadstories.com}}</ref>


== Search function ==
== Search function ==

Revision as of 12:00, 20 December 2021

The warning box that appears when Internet users try to view censored or blocked content on Facebook

Facebook has been involved in multiple controversies involving censorship of content, removing or omitting information from its services in order to comply with company policies, legal demands, and government censorship laws.

COVID-19 vaccine whistleblowing content

On 2 November 2021, The BMJ published a piece by journalist Paul D. Thacker alleging there has been "poor practice" at Ventavia, one of the companies involved in the phase III evaluation trials of the Pfizer vaccine.[1]

The BMJ sent an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg explaining that "from November 10, readers began reporting a variety of problems when trying to share our article. Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about “Missing context ... Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share “false information” might have their posts moved lower in Facebook’s News Feed. Group administrators where the article was shared received messages from Facebook informing them that such posts were “partly false.” Readers were directed to a “fact check” performed by a Facebook contractor named Lead Stories.".[2][3]

Search function

Facebook's search function has been accused of preventing users from searching for certain terms. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has written about Facebook's possible censorship of "Ron Paul" as a search term. MoveOn.org's Facebook group for organizing protests against privacy violations could for a time not be found by searching. The very word privacy was also restricted.[4]

Censorship of conservative news

In May 2016, Facebook was accused by a former employee for leaving out conservative topics from the trending bar.[5] Although Facebook denied these allegations, the site planned to improve the trending bar.[6]

In August 2018, Facebook deleted videos posted to it by PragerU. Facebook later reversed its decision and restored the PragerU content, saying that PragerU content was falsely reported to have hate speech.[7][8]

As a result of perception that conservatives are not treated neutrally on Facebook alternative social media platforms have been established.[9] This perception has led to a reduction of trust in Facebook, and reduction of usage by those who consider themselves to be conservative.[10]

In July 2020, Congressman Matt Gaetz filed a criminal referral against Facebook citing that evidence produced by Project Veritas demonstrated that Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had made materially false statements to Congress while under oath in hearings which occurred in April 2018.[11][12] Congressman Gaetz claimed that the evidence provided demonstrated that Zuckerberg's claims that the website did not engage in bias against conservative speech were false.[11]

Censorship of criticism of Israel

Facebook has been accused of censoring messages critical of Israel and supportive of Palestine. During conflict over the Sheikh Jarrah property dispute in 2021 Facebook was accused of deleting hundreds of posts critical of Israel.[13] Senior Facebook officials apologized to the Palestinian Prime Minister for censoring pro-Palestinian voices.[14]

Competing social networks

In October 2018, Facebook and Facebook Messenger was said to be blocking urls to Minds, a social network website that is a competitor of Facebook.[15] Users have complained that Facebook marks links to Facebook's competitor as "insecure" and have to fill a captcha to share it with other users. In 2015, Facebook was accused of banning rival network Tsu in a similar manner.[16]

Content critical of Facebook

Newspapers regularly report stories of users who claim they've been censored on Facebook for being critical of Facebook itself, with their posts removed or made less visible. Examples include Elizabeth Warren in 2019[17] and Rotem Shtarkman in 2016.[18]

Facebook has systems to monitor specific terms and keywords and trigger automatic or semi-automatic action.[19] In the context of media reports[20] and lawsuits[21] from people formerly working on Facebook content moderation, a former employee[who?] has claimed that specific rules existed to monitor and sometimes target posts about Facebook which are anti-Facebook or criticize Facebook for some action, for instance by matching the keywords "Facebook" or "DeleteFacebook".[22]

Image censorship

Facebook has a policy of removing photos which they believe violate the terms and conditions of the website. Images have been removed from user pages on topics such as breastfeeding,[23] nudes in art, apparent breasts, naked mannequins,[24] kisses between persons of the same sex and family photos.[25]

In September 2016, Norwegian author Tom Egeland published Nick Ut's iconic napalm girl photo on his Facebook page. He was banned for publishing "a picture of a nude child". A few weeks later, the newspaper Aftenposten published an open letter to Zuckerberg after the banning of "Napalm Girl", a Pulitzer Prize-winning documentary photograph from the Vietnam War made by Nick Ut.[26] Half of the ministers in the Norwegian government shared the famous Nick Ut photo on their Facebook pages, among them prime minister Erna Solberg from the Conservative Party (Høyre). But after only a few hours, several of the Facebook posts, including the Prime Minister's post, were deleted by Facebook.[27]

As a reaction to the letter, Facebook reconsidered its opinion on this picture and republished it, recognizing "the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time".[28]

Breastfeeding photos

Facebook has been repeatedly criticized for removing photos uploaded by mothers breastfeeding their babies.[29] Although photos that show an exposed breast violate Facebook's decency code, photos were removed even when the baby covered the nipple.[30]

The breastfeeding photo controversy continued following public protests and the growth in membership of a Facebook group titled "Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! (Official petition to Facebook)."[29] In December 2011, Facebook removed photos of mothers breastfeeding and after public criticism, restored the photos. The company said it removed the photos they believed violated the pornographic rules in the company's terms and conditions.[30] During February 2012, the company renewed its policy of removing photos of mothers breastfeeding. Founders of a Facebook group "Respect the Breast" reported that "women say they are tired of people lashing out at what is natural and what they believe is healthy for their children."[31]

Censorship of editorial content

On February 4, 2010, a number of Facebook groups against the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) were removed without any reason given.[32] The DAB is one of the largest pro-Beijing political parties in Hong Kong. The affected groups have since been restored.

Censorship on the Kashmir freedom movement

In 2016, Facebook banned and also removed content regarding the Kashmir dispute, triggering a response from The Guardian, BBC and other media groups on Facebook's policies on censorship.[33][34] Facebook censorship policies have been criticized especially after the company banned the posts about the Indian army's attack on protesters, including children, with pellet guns.[35] A human rights group superimposed pellet injuries similar to those inflicted on Kashmiri people on the faces of popular Indian actors, famous people including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a response, which went viral.[36][37]

Kurdish opposition censorship

Facebook has a policy to censor anything related to Kurdish opposition against Turkey, such as maps of Kurdistan, flags of Kurdish armed terrorist groups (such as PKK and YPG), and criticism of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkey.[38][39]

Censorship of "blasphemous" content

Facebook has worked with Pakistani government to censor "blasphemous" pages and speech inside Pakistan, censoring 54 posts in the second half of 2014.[40]

Censorship of anti-immigrant speech

In Germany, Facebook actively censors anti-immigrant speech, claming they are reviewing posts more stringently and using legal opinions and language experts to determine whether users’ comments are infringing on German law..[41][42][43]

In May 2016, Facebook and other technology companies agreed to a new "code of conduct" by the European Commission to review hateful online content within 24 hours of being notified, and subsequently remove such content if necessary.[44][45][46] A year later, Reuters reported that the European Union had approved proposals to make Facebook and other technology companies tackle hate speech content on their platforms, but that a final agreement in the European Parliament is needed to make the proposals into law.[47][48] In June 2017, the European Commission praised Facebook's efforts in fighting hateful content, having reviewed "nearly 58 percent of flagged content within 24 hours".[49][50]

Censorship in line with US foreign policy

In October 2021, a secret blacklist of "dangerous individuals and organizations" maintained by Facebook was discovered by the Intercept, which revealed censorship in the MENA region was stricter than in USA.[51][52] Critics and scholars have argued the blacklist and the guideline stiffles free discussion, as well as enforcing an uneven enforcement of the rules.[53][52]

See also

References

  1. ^ Thacker PD (November 2021). "Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer's vaccine trial". BMJ. 375: n2635. doi:10.1136/bmj.n2635. PMID 34728500. S2CID 240424253. A regional director who was employed at the research organisation Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported
  2. ^ "Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg". December 17, 2021.
  3. ^ "Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials | Lead Stories". leadstories.com.
  4. ^ Michael Arrington, Is Facebook Really Censoring Search When It Suits Them?, TechCrunch, November 22, 2007
  5. ^ Bowles, Nellie; Thielman, Sam (May 9, 2016). "Facebook accused of censoring conservatives, report says". The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
    Nunez, Gizmodo (May 9, 2016). "Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News". Gizmodo.com. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  6. ^ Hunt, Elle (May 24, 2016). "Facebook to change trending topics after investigation into bias claims". The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  7. ^ "Facebook apologises for blocking Prager University's videos". BBC. August 20, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  8. ^ Zhou, Marrian (August 21, 2018). "Facebook apologizes for removing conservative PragerU videos". CNET. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  9. ^ Schwartz, Jason (March 29, 2018). "Conservative outlets take on Facebook". Politico. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  10. ^ Flood, Brian (September 5, 2018). "Conservatives ditching Facebook over trust issues and fears of political bias, study shows". Fox News Channel. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Congressman Matt Gaetz Files Criminal Referral Against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg". Congressman Matt Gaetz. July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  12. ^ "Matt Gaetz Files Criminal Referral Against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Urges William Barr To Investigate". Florida Daily. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  13. ^ Paul, Kari (May 26, 2021). "Facebook under fire as human rights groups claim 'censorship' of pro-Palestine posts". The Guardian. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  14. ^ Perrigo, Billy (May 21, 2021). "Inside Facebook's Meeting With Palestinian Officials Over Posts Inaccurately Flagged as Incitement to Violence". Time. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  15. ^ Dube Dwilson, Stephanie (October 13, 2018). "Yes, Facebook Is Blocking Minds Links as 'Unsecure'". Heavy.com. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  16. ^ Klint, Finley (November 11, 2015). "Facebook is blocking an upstart rival – but it's complicated". Wired. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  17. ^ Kelly, Makena (March 11, 2019). "Facebook proves Elizabeth Warren's point by deleting her ads about breaking up Facebook". The Verge. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  18. ^ Yaron, Oded (August 23, 2016). "Is Facebook Censoring Posts Critical of the Social Media Giant?". Haaretz. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  19. ^ Beckett, Lois (March 27, 2019). "Facebook to ban white nationalism and separatism content". The Guardian. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  20. ^ Hern, Alex (February 26, 2019). "Facebook moderators tell of strict scrutiny and PTSD symptoms". The Guardian. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  21. ^ Hern, Alex (December 4, 2019). "Ex-Facebook worker claims disturbing content led to PTSD". The Guardian. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  22. ^ Nycyk, Michael. Facebook: Exploring the Social Network and its Challenges.
  23. ^ "Facebook Censored Breastfeeding. Sadly, I Wasn't Surprised". HuffPost. August 17, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  24. ^ Tijou, Sarah (March 20, 2017). "Naked mannequin photographer banned from Facebook". BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  25. ^ Spanish newspaper El País, Estas son las imágenes que Facebook no quiso que vieras Ana Marcos, March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 17, 2015
  26. ^ Norway newspaper aftenposten, Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply with your requirement to remove this picture. Espen Egil Hansen, September 9, 2016
  27. ^ Norway newspaper aftenposten, Norway's prime minister and several government members censored by Facebook Kristin Jonassen Nordby, September 9, 2016
  28. ^ Kafka, Peter (September 9, 2016). "Facebook changes its mind, and says it's okay to publish an iconic war photo, after all". Recode.net. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  29. ^ a b "Protests mount over Facebook ban on breast-feeding photos; bigger turnout online than in Palo Alto". Mercury News. December 27, 2008.
  30. ^ a b McGinty, Bill (December 30, 2011). "Facebook apologizes for removing breastfeeding photo". WCNC.COM. Archived from the original on April 10, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  31. ^ McGinty, Bill (February 16, 2012). "Photos on breastfeeding Facebook page removed again". WCNC.COM. Archived from the original on April 10, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  32. ^ + name + (January 1, 1970). "組員逾八萬 疑有人眼寃不斷施壓 facebook鏟走反民建聯群組 | 蘋果日報 | 要聞港聞 | 20100205". Apple Daily (in Chinese). Hong Kong. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  33. ^ Photoshopped celebrities used for Kashmir pellet gun campaign. BBC News, July 28, 2016.
  34. ^ Doshi, Vidhi. 2016. Facebook under fire for 'censoring' Kashmir-related posts and accounts. The Guardian, July 19, 2016.
  35. ^ Lakshmi, Rama. 2016. Facebook is censoring some posts on Indian Kashmir. The Washington Post, July 27, 2016.
  36. ^ Who removes Kashmir posts on Facebook?. Daily Dawn, July 28, 2016.
  37. ^ Adamczyk, Ed. 2016. Kashmir activist campaign shows Facebook CEO Zuckerberg shot in face. United Press International, July 29, 2016.
  38. ^ "Facebook's Kurdish problem?". Al Jazeera. August 24, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  39. ^ Livesay, Christopher (October 7, 2015). "After battling ISIS, Kurds find new foe in Facebook". Public Radio International. WGBH Educational Foundation. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  40. ^ "Facebook censored 54 posts for 'blasphemy' in Pakistan in second half of 2014 – The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. March 17, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  41. ^ Faiola, Anthony (January 6, 2016). "Germany springs to action over hate speech against migrants". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  42. ^ Bender, Rush; Schechner, Sam (September 14, 2015). "Facebook Outlines Measures to Combat Racist and Xenophobic Content". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  43. ^ Toor, Amar (September 15, 2015). "Facebook will work with Germany to combat anti-refugee hate speech". The Verge. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  44. ^ Toor, Amar (May 31, 2016). "Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft agree to EU hate speech rules". The Verge. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  45. ^ Hern, Alex (May 31, 2016). "Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft sign EU hate speech code". The Guardian. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  46. ^ Dillet, Romain (May 31, 2016). "Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft agree to remove hate speech across the EU". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  47. ^ Fioretti, Julia (May 23, 2017). "EU states approve plans to make social media firms tackle hate speech". Reuters. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  48. ^ Toor, Amar (May 24, 2017). "EU close to making Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter block hate speech videos". The Verge. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  49. ^ Toor, Amar (June 2, 2017). "Facebook earns EU praise for combatting hate speech, as Twitter and YouTube lag behind". The Verge. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  50. ^ Macdonald, Alastair; Fioretti, Julia (June 1, 2017). "Social media firms have increased removals of online hate speech: EU". Reuters. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  51. ^ Facebook Dangerous Individuals and Organizations List (Reproduced Snapshot), The Intercept, October 12, 2021, retrieved December 18, 2021
  52. ^ a b Biddle, Sam (October 12, 2021). "Revealed: Facebook's Secret Blacklist of "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations"". The Intercept. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  53. ^ Facebook Praise, Support and Representation Moderation Guidelines (Reproduced Snapshot), The Intercept, October 12, 2021, retrieved December 18, 2021
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