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This is Bret Taylor, CTO of Facebook. This was a mistake on our part. In the process of dealing with a routine trademark violation issue regarding some links p

This is Bret Taylor, CTO of Facebook. This was a mistake on our part. In the process of dealing with a routine trademark violation issue regarding some links posted to Facebook, we inadvertently blocked all mentions of the phrase "lamebook" on Facebook. We are committed to promoting free expression on Facebook. We apologize for our mistake in this case, and we are working to fix the process that led to this happening.

phlux 16y ago
Bret, That is really nice to hear. What is the stance, then, on said 'free expression on Facebook' regarding the filtering of mentions of torrents in the FB Messaging platform? Is this protected expression? Or will the FB Messaging platform filter content based on an automated perceived risk of copyright violation etc? Is the official policy regarding free expression, and what constitutes free expression, that one (without a Facebook account) may read posted anywhere easily accessible?
agravier 16y ago
Thanks for posting this explanation. I am curious about that part: > inadvertently blocked all mentions of the phrase "lamebook" on Facebook. Inadvertently seems to imply that this was not voluntary, more like the result of some "misclick". Is that so? Are there such powerful control tools at Facebook which use is not under strict review? If it was inadvertent, I think there ought to be serious policy revision regarding the use of these big brother tools at Facebook ;)
- andreyf 16y ago
  Hypothesis: Thousands of people around the world mis-flag content for a variety of reasons every day. One of the outsourced content-reviewers working for a consultancy hired by facebook made a mistake in handling the copyright infringement flag, and blocked the site. It wasn't noticed by anyone until the TechCrunch story went up.
ucentric 16y ago
"inadvertently" Bret, surely you could do better than that? Or is this like Google inadvertently collecting WiFi data? Facebook is becoming practiced in doing bad stuff then if the backlash is big enough, taking one (only one mind you) step back. Even Arrington thinks you are liars Bret so why not, for once, try telling the truth.

phlux 16y ago

Bret, That is really nice to hear. What is the stance, then, on said 'free expression on Facebook' regarding the filtering of mentions of torrents in the FB Messaging platform? Is this protected expression? Or will the FB Messaging platform filter content based on an automated perceived risk of copyright violation etc? Is the official policy regarding free expression, and what constitutes free expression, that one (without a Facebook account) may read posted anywhere easily accessible?

agravier 16y ago

Thanks for posting this explanation. I am curious about that part: > inadvertently blocked all mentions of the phrase "lamebook" on Facebook. Inadvertently seems to imply that this was not voluntary, more like the result of some "misclick". Is that so? Are there such powerful control tools at Facebook which use is not under strict review? If it was inadvertent, I think there ought to be serious policy revision regarding the use of these big brother tools at Facebook ;)

andreyf 16y ago
Hypothesis: Thousands of people around the world mis-flag content for a variety of reasons every day. One of the outsourced content-reviewers working for a consultancy hired by facebook made a mistake in handling the copyright infringement flag, and blocked the site. It wasn't noticed by anyone until the TechCrunch story went up.

ucentric 16y ago

"inadvertently" Bret, surely you could do better than that? Or is this like Google inadvertently collecting WiFi data? Facebook is becoming practiced in doing bad stuff then if the backlash is big enough, taking one (only one mind you) step back. Even Arrington thinks you are liars Bret so why not, for once, try telling the truth.