Facebook Censoring Online Activism?

The Creeping Fascism of American Politics

FOCUS: States Unite Against Citizens United

Dimon's Deja Vu Debacle

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like

Google Is Destroying Your Privacy

"The insurgent movement is indeed something new in American politics - but what, exactly?"

Facebook logo, 06/15/09. (art: Facebook)

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+20 # Guest 2010-09-18 09:07

The freedom of the press belongs to those who have a press.

+18 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:05

Please credit the late New Yorker writer, A. J. Liebling with your quote, "Freedom of the press belongs to those who have one."

+2 # Guest 2010-09-18 13:58

Since Liebling said that we have many was to "PUBLISH", this is one of them.

+4 # Guest 2010-09-19 07:41

That is why the people rely on freedom of speech and facebook has violated that freedom....

+26 # Guest 2010-09-18 09:44

Boycott Facebook!

+18 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:45

Friends of mine have been looking for an alternative, but haven't yet found one that is truly unrestricted. The name escapes me right now, but I know there's one in the development stages that we're hoping will be better.

One way of "boycotting" Facebook is to not play games and not click on any of their ads (that's how they pay for it).

I think the people who run Facebook are too full of their own importance.

+3 # Guest 2010-09-18 16:13

What about live Journal?

+1 # Guest 2010-09-18 20:20

the people of facebook are totally double standard... I just read this week about a new one coming out soon where we will be in total charge of all our own privacy and our own posts... The new site won't own any of our pictures or videos or nothing... I'm ready to leave facebook... I already blocked all games and I never click on "like" anymore.

+4 # Guest 2010-09-19 00:07

Better yet, use adblock plus (ad on for Firefox) to block all the facebook ads alltogether

0 # Guest 2010-09-22 08:32

read the article on zuckerberg in the new yorker. i cannot remember the quote exactly, but its something like this "of course mark zuckerberg doesn't have anything to hide as a sheltered, white suburban kid that is rich and always has been affluent" or words to that effect. the dude is 24...i am not even sure he realizes the struggles a lot of people are engaged in, or the importance of letting the little man get organized. after all, what did he have to struggle for?

+14 # Guest 2010-09-18 09:49

I'm an activist with the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke. Coca-Cola has an enormous Facebook base, so I've been leaving messages about Coke's worldwide labor, human rights and environmental abuses. I used to get people either supporting my posts or attacking me for them. I haven't had a response in many months, so I figure that my posts do not go through. I'm being censored!

+3 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:29

With all those thousands of Facebook fans, you should be able to find a few who would monitor the posts you send and let you know when/if they do not go through.

If you are indeed being censored, it is a disgusting development.

+2 # bl8ant 2010-09-18 21:06

no, not censored just hidden from the feed....

i don't drink coke but your argument is lame none the less...i hide people from my feed that annoy me as well.

-9 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:26

You have the right to free speech. Nobody owes you a forum.

+19 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:47

It is true that nobody owes you a forum, but when you set yourself up as one thing with certain rules and then don't follow them, one has a right to feel mislead and cheated out of your right. There's something creepy about Facebook anyway.

+2 # bl8ant 2010-09-18 21:07

exactly

+3 # Guest 2010-09-19 03:28

If Facebook is not a forum, they should be honest and say that they censor content. Otherwise they are just another corporation that lies to us and should be boycotted.

0 # Guest 2010-09-22 08:33

LOL

+12 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:32

This is really bad news.
I think the rich corporate interests are very aware that grass roots efforts, including the social network media like facebook, played a role in electing President Obama, and they are willing to launch yet another attack on Constitutional rights in order to pursue their goals. What are we going to support--Target, BP, and Facebook, or are democratic rights?
Rally for rights.
Kathie MM
kathiemm@engagi ngpeace.com
http://engagingpeace.com

+2 # Guest 2010-09-18 13:20

I agree that this sucks, but to be accurate - this doesn't involve any attack on constitutional rights.

The first amendment guarantees that the right to free expression is not impinged upon by the government or organizations funded by the government. Businesses can censor whatever they want.

+5 # Guest 2010-09-19 05:17

I agree. The Constitution says what it says, not what you think it says. - Thanks

-2 # Guest 2010-09-19 16:42

That's true, remember Imus was silenced by attacking his Corporations, not by Government interference!

+9 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:35

The only thing wrong with dumping Facebook down a hot volcano is that you might ruin a perfectly good volcano. I have been disgusted with Facebook for about a year now. Not only is it clear that they are abusing their power by censoring user content to further their own political, social and economic agendas, but their customer service stinks.

A while back there was a serious and destructive virus on their servers. A number of my clients' systems were infected by this virus. I complained to Facebook and asked them to take appropriate actions. They did not even respond. I intend to continue my boycott of Facebook until or unless they radicaly change the way that they treat their user. I am not holding my breath.

+2 # www.democratz.org 2010-09-18 10:36

I have had my activist posts limited on Facebook. You can see it below.

+5 # Guest 2010-09-18 10:48

Cannot open the topic on Facebook censorship. Guess your article is blocked too. Jane Christ

+6 # Guest 2010-09-18 11:10

To use -- maybe paraphrase -- a slogan from the 60s: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I'm afraid that Facebook has come down clearly on the side of the problem -- at least so far as democracy, rather than making money, is concerned.

+5 # Guest 2010-09-18 11:24

Facebook has been ruined. Over the years its gotten worse and worse.

+18 # Guest 2010-09-18 11:29

How selective is FB in applying the rules? They leave up vile profiles from the likes of Phelps/Westboro Baptist Church; profiles that call the President a Nazi; and anti-gay rhetoric profiles. It takes someone else to open a profile condemning the profiles in order to even get the attention of FB to remove them.

But dare to call attention to our corporate masters in an unflattering way? Locked up.

Please - someone come up with a better alternative than FB.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-18 11:37

when free speech gets too free the powers that be stop the words.

Industry is very unDemocratic.

Despite full page magazine ads to the contrary....Oil companies are especially fond of Those ads in major magazines that reach the intellectuals...plus not so PBS.

Business as usual.

-10 # Guest 2010-09-18 12:08

I'm not a facebook fan, however, it would seem to me that the owner(s)would have the "right" to monitor and limit participation. After all, it's my understanding that facebook is a "social" web, not a political one....

+1 # Guest 2010-09-18 13:24

I think you meant to say "not a government one", and you are right - they DO have the legal right to control activity on their websites.

+4 # Guest 2010-09-18 16:18

why are there so many ads, sales etc. on it then?

+5 # Guest 2010-09-18 12:08

I can't see why anyone is upset. To me Facebook is a very stupid place to try to promote your political position.

+9 # Guest 2010-09-18 12:12

He who lives by Facebook, dies by Facebook. Some people have managed to have full lives without it. Ignore it, and it won't make any difference.

+3 # Guest 2010-09-18 15:18

FINALLY! A reason for people to quit the stupid, stupid Facebook. Don't people realize the personal information they are giving out, the personal "chats" and when you are on vacation. How stupid can people be? And, employers monitor this, probably health insurance companies, and regular insurance companies. Privacy folks, privacy. Goes for cell phones and talking behind me!

-2 # Guest 2010-09-19 09:32

Your right. Information shared is in may cases, too informative. TMI - too much information. For years I didn't allow facebook/my space accounts, untill I really didn't have say anymore. I looked at facebook as a great tool to communicate with others who have the same interest. Sounded innocent enough to me. However it's looks like many of these groups have falling prey to the very same issues you mentioned, but who would think it would turn into Homeland Security Terror lists being compiled on innocent law abiding individuals.

-1 # Guest 2010-09-18 15:23

this discussion is absurd. A website promoted and funded by dark govt forces once it had proved its viability to reach into peoples homes, is restricting access to those who want to speak freely against corporate interests. Are you so freaking naive? next you'll try to convince me that they shouldn't use facebook records to trace your actions and activities in the real world. What are you waiting for ? the matrix to gift wrap your death certificate?

+5 # Guest 2010-09-18 17:15

I confess. Here in Colorado Springs, the super fusion center of the country's over seventy fusion centers with govt. operatives ('spooks') now numbering over 80,000, I am labeled an "anarchist." How did I earn this sinister sounding label? Putting on my old legal hat and assisting the defense in trials of peaceful peace demonstrators who were intimidated, brutalized, tortured, etc. Then I talk far and wide, particularly on the internet re. loss of civil rights, rule of law and democracy, and undergoing a villianaire's coup de etat (Google: Colorado Springs Independent, Jan. 21, 2010, "No Peace or Justice").

Interesting timing on flagging us on Facebook's activities, particularly since a certain I was very recently notified by Facebook that a number of old friends who are also peace and justice activists (a.k.a. 'anarchists') wanted me to approve them as 'friends' on Facebook. Well, guess what? The old friends say they never so requested. More warrantless surveillance?

+4 # Guest 2010-09-18 17:23

I fear we have been too late for the last forty years. The corporate powers that be. Are truly the ones manipulating the strings of societal change in what they want us to perceive as their definition of what the truth is, in their own eyes. Which in reality is a bold faced lie. They twist the words with (political speak) To get their Agendas passed by both state and national initiatives that are put on the ballots. That are in actuality measures put forth by all of the "Lobbyists" who only speak for the top 1%. I feel that this is no longer a government by the people and for the people of this once great nation. God help us. I truly want my vote back and to mean some thing. I am tired of all the Hyperbole and dogma that is spewed out daily in the news and sound bites.
Karl...

+2 # Guest 2010-09-18 19:16

I recently saw an advance screening of a drama called "The Social Network," which is about the origins of Facebook. Although it's not a documentary, it provides eye-opening info on how corporate and sleazy Facebook is.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-19 00:33

Why Don't you substitute a name for "target", and let everyone know on twitter. @targetnamechan ge I had to do it today for what Jeff Adachi was doing to everyone's pension. Not his, No on prop B! Thanks @rrbferrari

+3 # Guest 2010-09-19 04:33

There is a facebook TOS, and although I have participated in both groups mentioned, facebook has absolutely no responsibility to host pages that violate their terms of service. Further facebook is free, save for the ad revenue, which is often large corporations that are boycotted or may be boycotted on these pages. I would rather facebook continue then have most of its ad revenue fall to the wayside to support some cheap people who can't/wont front the money buy a domain name and host their own content. Hey if the people that started the pages are that ticked, ask for a refund...ohhh wait they paid $0 to host any of that.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-19 04:34

Lastly, on one of the Target pages a whole section was dedicated to boycotting Target on private property and buying things with the express and sole intent to return it (both illegal activities). There was also a turf war going on between two co-moderators, with increasing spam and crap flowing back and forth. In one day I got 35 e-mails from three moderators/former moderators all trying lure people to another page.

Then one of the mods had their account hacked and it was just spam after spam about some page that was just a front for a trojan.

The BP discussion board devolved into a very bitter and volatile discussion group with some advocating what could be considered terrorism.

I think they were WELL within their rights to limit access and I blame the moderators of the pages for not actively moderating some of the content that was clearly in violation of the TOS laced with hate speech, advocating violence etc.

+1 # Guest 2010-09-19 04:38

The question is whether Facebook is applying this standard to all pages that fall under its limitation or just the ones that attack large corporations?

+4 # Guest 2010-09-19 09:23

Whether or not the High Sheriffs at Facebook have the right to censor, redact, or abridge the postings, in my opinion, is irrelevant. The issue is whether or not Facebook is a good place to espouse one's causes. Personally, I believe it is not.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-19 19:56

Maybe we should boycott Facebook. If it truly is a social
network, then free speech rules should apply and information
about corporations that have negative content..should be
allowed.

+3 # Guest 2010-09-20 10:56

I find this very odd - I have joined a few facebook pages - the one that got Saturday Night Live to have Betty White host is only one example - that have nothing to do with anything but fostering and supporting an idea. There's one to collect a million people who believe in evolution, rather than whatever the conservatives are calling 'creationism' these days, and many others. Definitely a corporate shut down, not a policy issue.

-3 # Guest 2010-09-20 13:29

Facebook belongs to FACEBOOK. Let the marketplace determine the outcome, not some opinionated yahoo posing as an expert on something.

-2 # dwcoffey 2010-09-20 13:54

"Facebook said the earlier pages were restricted because they ran afoul of the social media site’s terms of service, LIMITING SO-CALLED PAGES TO INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES THAT HAVE SOME REAL STRUCTURE IN THE BRICKS-AND-MORTAR WORLD." (Emphasis added.) This reminds me of the old, rather undemocratic policy restricting voting to property owners only.

0 # Guest 2010-09-21 16:21

word of mouth can never be censored!!!

0 # Guest 2010-09-22 07:30

yes, it seems to me that Facebook has rules that it sees fit to apply if it affects their advertising revenue which is their right since they own the site but don't couch it in some overarching policy about "real structure". Fans of getting Betty White onto Saturday Live is a perfect example or 1 million to believe in anything....and yet they allow hate groups to flourish...interesting said it.

0 # Guest 2010-09-24 08:16

Every now and then when critical news topic, surveys or petitions are presented on line, I circulate it to all the interested groups and individuals that I personally know who have a stake in the matter. Problem is Facebook assumes it is "an abuse" of their system as if it is spam, allowing no reasonable measure for assessment of indivudual issues to clairify that this data is relevant and appreciated by the other parties. This can have adverse impacts in regards to the reasonable response times of urgent petitions, and that infringes upon issues of civil liberties and issues related to public processes.

0 # Guest 2010-09-24 08:20

The Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure is asking for public comment regarding the future of Ontario's energy supply. It is the only chance Ontario Residents will have in governing the policies and this is critical info but Facebook censored me from posting it to the websites because they said I was abusing the wall post with too many posts. Question is, how is the Ontario Government going to secure public comment if the word can't even be circulated by caring members of the public on facebook?

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