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WHAT IS ONLINE CENSORSHIP?
Onlinecensorship.org seeks to encourage social media companies to operate with greater transparency and accountability toward their users as they make decisions that regulate speech. We’re collecting reports from users in an effort to shine a light on what content is taken down, why companies make certain decisions about content, and how content takedowns are affecting communities of users around the world.
No Refuge on Facebook
Syrian artist Khaled Barakeh shared images of deceased refugees on Facebook that showed the cost of war, but Facebook hid them from view.
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No Support for Breasts
Facebook banned a bra company from advertising its guide of breast sizes and shapes, even though the ad only showed a drawer full of bras.
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Big Brother YouTube
The ‘Innocence of Muslims’ video sparked anger in some countries, so YouTube independently blocked it in Egypt and Libya.
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AKA Happy
Facebook shut down the account of Happy Addis, a prominent LGBT activist. Same-sex relations are illegal in Ethiopia.
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Context is Everything
Popular rapper Talib Kweli used contextualized imagery to make a statement about racism, but Instagram took it down as “hate speech”.
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Abstain From Advertising
Twitter wants you to abstain...from advertising. It banned the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s sex positive health messages.
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Too Real for Instagram?
Artist Rupi Kaur wanted to demonstrate society’s uneasiness about menstruation. She didn't expect Instagram to prove her point by censoring the photos.
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Identity Management
Former Facebook employee and trans woman Zoë Cat had to show proof of her name under the platform’s Real Name Policy
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Censorship Tag Team
Facebook removed a video of the self-immolation of a Tibetan monk. 136 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 to protest Chinese restrictions on their culture & religion.
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The Revolution That Almost Didn’t Happen
The 2011 Egyptian uprising was first announced on a page that Facebook had deleted a year before because one of the administrators was using a pseudonym.
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Owned by the State
In 2011, Flickr banned prominent Egyptian activist Hossam Hamalawy for posting photos retrieved from a raid on state security offices.
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We Are… Hypocrites
After the Charlie Hebdo shootings, Mark Zuckerberg spoke out for free expression. Two weeks later, Facebook began censoring some images of the Prophet.
READ THE STORYLATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS
The Weekly Takedown: 7 December 2016
Jillian C. York
Dec 6 2016
Silicon Valley companies join forces against terrorism, one Chinese's company's quest to take censorship abroad, and more.
30 November 2016: The Weekly Takedown
Jillian C. York
Nov 30 2016
In this week's roundup, nudity and body image on Instagram, the "fake news" controversy, and why Facebook might be building a tool to censor in China.
23 November 2016: The Weekly Takedown
Jillian C. York
Nov 23 2016
After a brief hiatus, the Weekly Takedown is back...and just in time for mass suspensions on Twitter!
Onlinecensorship.org launches second report, "Censorship in Context" (PDF)
Jillian C. York
Nov 16 2016
Censorship in Context: Insights from Crowdsourced Data on Social Media Censorship
2 November 2016: The Weekly Takedown
Jillian C. York
Nov 2 2016
Facebook dominates the headlines this week, with a new report on how executives are involved in content controversies and a letter from more than 70 rights grou...
News, Interest and Intrigue: Parsing Facebook’s Latest Content Moderation Policy Announcement
Matthew Stender
Oct 26 2016
Facebook's latest announcement promises greater consideration of context in content moderation. Onlinecensorship.org's Matthew Stender takes a look at the news.
26 October 2016: The Weekly Takedown
Jillian C. York
Oct 26 2016
Will Facebook's new enforcement guidelines result in more freedom of expression on the platform?
Censorship against Palestinians brings Onlinecensorship.org back to its roots
Jessica Anderson
Oct 12 2016
News of an agreement between Facebook and the Israeli government shines a new light on the deactivation of several Palestinian editors' Facebook accounts.