Freedom of speech doesn’t apply to every public platform, it turns out.
Having got their hands on the guidelines provided to Facebook employees, The Guardian then gave a full breakdown on the findings, and found that Zuckerburg’s company are constantly attempting to clamp down on a tidal wave of sex, violence and terrorism related statuses.
While the billion-plus-users of the social networking site will always come up with new ways to get around using directly harsh language and/or images, and the extent that the research into these topics is almost staggering.
For example, there is a sub-set of rules of “Sexual Content – Holocaust Nudity”, with examples such as “extreme emaciation”, “WW2 soldier or concentration camp uniforms” or “images taken within the camps” providing enough context for the images to be allowed on Facebook.
Here’s a list of some of the things you specifically can’t say or show on Facebook, according to the guidelines:
- “Someone shoot Trump”
- Digitally-made art depicting a sexual image
- “Stab and become the fear of the Zionist”
- Revenge-porn
And here’s a list of some of the things that you specifically CAN say or show on Facebook, according to the guidelines:
- “To snap a bitch’s neck, make sure to apply all your pressure to the middle of her throat”
- Hand-made art depicting a sexual image
- Photos of non-sexual abuse and/or bullying of children, as long as their is no sadistic or celebratory element
- Photos of animal abuse, as long as their marked as “disturbing”
- “Kick a person with red hair” and “Let’s beat up fat kids”
- Live-streams of people self-harming, because Facebook “doesn’t want to censor or punish people in distress”
A more in-depth look at Facebook’s guidelines can be found on the original article, but with Facebook now presenting itself as potentially the biggest censor in the world, as well as being the publishing medium for any potentially harmful imagery or statuses, expect a call for much more transparency on how the company deals with their censoring issues in the not-too-distant future.
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