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Facebook backs down, will no longer censor the iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ war photo
Washington Post
Sep 11 2016
Our Matthew Stender spoke to the Washington Post about Facebook's decision to stop banning the iconic 'Napalm Girl' war photo.
You Need to Care About Facebook Censoring an Iconic Vietnam War Photo
Sep 9 2016
Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phúc fleeing from a napalm attack during the Vietnam war is one of the most iconic pieces of ph...
Blocked and banned by social media: When is it censorship?
San Francisco Chronicle
Aug 30 2016
In the San Francisco Chronicle, Marissa Lang explores whether bans on social media platforms ever amount to censorship.
Facebook Removed a Stanford Rapist Meme and Users Are Pissed
Gizmodo
Jun 9 2016
Several Facebook users have taken to the platform to complain that their posts about convicted rapist Brock Turner—whose treatment and sentencing has drawn wide...
Of course we should be able to use social networks to protest against puritanical views about women’s bodies. And we need to defy the idea that the only acceptable images of women are those selected to suit the male gaze, or that men (or tech firms!) can be the ones to decide whether our nipples are sexual or not.
Leigh Alexander
European Commission's Hate Speech Deal With Companies Will Chill Speech
EFF
Jun 3 2016
A new agreement between the European Commission and four major U.S. companies—Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft—went into effect yesterday.
Mark Zuckerberg is ‘dictator’ of Facebook ‘nation’: The Pirate Bay founder
CNBC
May 27 2016
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is the "dictator" of "the biggest nation in the world", the co-founder of file sharing site The Pirate Bay, told CNBC on Friday, a...
Does social media have a censorship problem?
May 13 2016
Index on Censorship spoke with team members Jillian C. York and Matthew Stender.
“Having not received a report we aren't sure which Facebook community standard we violated, though I presume the fact we are swearing, wearing latex gloves and suggestively fondling fruit may have something to do with it. I'm not here to say we didn't break any rules; indeed, I don't know if we did because I didn't get an explanation. The thing is, the rules are unreasonable, and inconsistently policed.”
Maeve Marsden
Censored or not? Which images failed - and passed - the Facebook test
The Sydney Morning Herald
May 6 2016
While Facebook and Instagram make their stances on naked flesh relatively clear, where and when they enact their nipple and nudity censorship have become infamo...
Facebook cracks down on Kurdish content
The Ferret
Apr 19 2016
Facebook has banned Glasgow Girl Roza Salih for posting a photo of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan alongside a quote that read: “Liberating life is im...
The Secret Rules of the Internet
The Verge
Apr 16 2016
The murky history of moderation, and how it’s shaping the future of free speech
...before this when content was removed from Facebook users got a notice saying it had been flagged as inappropriate or that it somehow violated terms of service, indicating that the takedown came from another user’s report. Location-based blocking of videos and content for political reasons has usually come from the government via DNS-based blocking or similar practices, never from social media companies themselves.
Marianne Diaz Hernandez
Facebook Is Embroiled In A Row With Activists Over “Censorship”
Buzzfeed
Apr 14 2016
Facebook is embroiled in a row with a group of British activists who say it is “censoring” material that might offend the Turkish government.
Facebook Is Struggling To Control Groups Of Men Sharing Revenge Porn
Buzzfeed
Apr 14 2016
Two private groups for residents of Melbourne, Australia, are involved in a bitter online war involving racist comments, drugs, and “revenge” porn that Facebook...
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’.
Why did Facebook censor this sexual health video we made?
Daily Life
Mar 8 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 ...
The big myth Facebook needs everyone to believe
Washington Post
Jan 28 2016
Facebook says its community standards are inert, universal, agnostic to place and time.
Why artist Shelby Sells can’t stop getting censored
Detroit Metro Times
Jan 27 2016
Shelby Sells is an artist whose "glitterotica" images—vintage porn digitally superimposed with sparkles—are regularly censored from social media.
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.
Censorship in the social media age
Columbia Journalism Review
Jan 21 2016
Social media platforms dominate today’s information ecosystem.
On Criticising Charlie Hebdo, and the Perils of Selective Freedom of Speech
Global Voices
Jan 20 2016
The author received a takedown notice from Facebook 24 hours after posting about Charlie Hebdo.
Facebook begins Europe-wide campaign against extremist posts
Reuters
Jan 18 2016
Facebook Inc began a Europe-wide campaign on Monday to thwart extremist posts on social media.
Why Did Facebook Censor Copenhagen's Little Mermaid?
artnet news
Jan 5 2016
There's much ado in Denmark this week after Facebook allegedly censored a photograph of the little mermaid statue.
Facebook apologises for marking story as spam
The Indian Express
Nov 26 2015
Facebook has clarified that a report from TheWire.in was mistakenly labelled as spam and has since been restored.
Zuckerberg talks to Merkel about hate speech
TECHDIRT
Sep 30 2015
It's the age-old question on matters of free speech: how do we handle speech the public generally finds unacceptable?
Privatizing censorship in fight against extremism is risk to press freedom
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Oct 16 2015
Allowing ill-defined "extremist" content to be removed without judicial oversight or due process can too easily be used by states interested in limiting indepen...
Facebook is accused of censoring investigative journalism
GLOBALPOST
Oct 15 2015
"It's just the latest international case of alleged censorship by Facebook, which internet activists accuse of lacking transparency over what content it takes d...
#mynameis coalition takes "fake name" protest to Facebook HQ
SF WEEKLY
Jun 1 2015
The #MyNameIs coalition says that Facebook's policy of requiring people to use its service under their "legal" name is discriminatory.
What does censoring nude art say about us?
GLOBAL VOICES
Apr 16 2015
The nude, one of the oldest and most recurrent subjects in the art world, has led to the suspension of many Facebook accounts over the years.