Has your account//// post/////// photo////// link/////// campaign///
been suspended?/ censored?// taken down? removed?/// banned?////
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 ...
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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.
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Check out our first report
In the four months since launch, we've collected and analyzed 161 reports of content takedowns on social media. Here are the findings.
READ THE STORYLATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Onlinecensorship.org launches first report (PDF)
Mar 31, 2016
Unfriending Censorship: Insights from four months of crowdsourced data on social media censorship
March 30, 2016: LGBT groups rejected from Facebook
Matthew Stender
Mar 30, 2016
In this week's roundup: LGBTQ groups take issue with Facebook policies and
Onlinecensorship.org at RightsCon
Jillian C. York
Mar 24, 2016
Onlinecensorship.org team members will be attending and presenting at RightsCon Silicon Valley, March 30-April 1, 2016.
Facebook’s censorship of Aboriginal bodies raises troubling ideas of ‘decency’
The Guardian
Mar 23, 2016
Facebook happily hosts Kim Kardashian’s cleavage, but suspended users posting images of topless Aboriginal women for ‘violating community standards’.
March 23, 2016: Politics and patriarchy
Jillian C. York
Mar 23, 2016
In this week's roundup: A Turkish news site, topless women, childbirth imagery, an Indian political cartoon and more censored by Facebook.
March 15, 2016: Elective censorship
Matthew Stender
Mar 15, 2016
In this week's roundup: Instagram and Facebook censor mockery of Donald Trump and a German breast cancer campaign encourages breaking Facebook's nudity ban.
Why did Facebook censor this sexual health video we made?
Daily Life
Mar 08, 2016
I didn't want to write an article about censorship. I wanted to write an article about how a group of feminist cabaret singers of diverse sizes and sexualities ...
Facebook Censors a Bushwick Gallery Over Artist’s Toilet-Squatting Stunt
Bedford + Bowery
Jan 26, 2016
Gallery owner Christopher Stout found his Facebook account frozen after posting an image of performance artist Lisa Levy sitting nude on a toilet.