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Facebook has gotten too big for it's own good. How can they be held accountable for every single thing said by their users?! It goes against human nature. Peop

Facebook has gotten too big for it's own good. How can they be held accountable for every single thing said by their users?! It goes against human nature. People curse, people are horrible to each other, people make fun of terrible things... It's a fact of life. You can't cleanse the world of bad human behaviour. That's a fight you can't win. Facebook will try and censor their systems, people will hate it, and Facebook will die trying. EDIT: I guess I'm being overly pessimistic here. Facebook has no choice but to do something. It just feels like: "We have to do something." "This is something!" "Therefore we have to do it!"

Svip 13y ago
In the same way I don't expect my government to take care of when people are mean to me. There should be social consequences (and there are) to being unnecessarily rude. I don't mind that people through fits over mean statements, but I mind it when they require laws to fill it in. Surely, government and law enforcement have been things to take care of than people being horrible without being violent.
masklinn 13y ago
> How can they be held accountable for every single thing said by their users?! That could stand if they didn't try to police their users at all, but they do, significantly, on a number of areas: facebook has banned or censored groups and images on such sujects as breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects[0]. Yet, and there's the rub, rape and violence groups were allowed to run unimpeded and reports were generally ignored when they didn't lead to the complainer being blocked. [0] http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/11/does-facebook-hate-all-women-or-just-feminists/ http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/11/does-facebook-hate-al...
- AlexanderDhoore 13y ago
  I know that's the situation. What I'm trying to say is this: that list (breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects, joking about rape, violence...) is just going to grow longer, and longer, and longer... In the article it says: "... Facebook says it will process more complaints and will train its staff of reviewers ...". That means they are doing a big part of the censoring MANUALLY! You will NEVER be able to remove garbage faster than people creating it.
  - masklinn 13y ago
    > I know that's the situation. What I'm trying to say is this: that list (breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects, joking about rape, violence...) is just going to grow longer, and longer, and longer... Sure, but that's got nothing to do with the part I quoted: you asked why they can be "held accountable" (for extremely loose definitions of "held" and "accountable") for everything their users say, and the answer is: because they decided to police what their users say, once they start policing they're held accountable for what they police and how they police it. > That means they are doing a big part of the censoring MANUALLY! Yes? > You will NEVER be able to remove garbage faster than people creating it. You probably won't do it automatically either, at least not without significant collateral damages anyway (see: Google). And as far as I know, Facebook mostly acts on reports (which happens to be the way HN works as well), they generally don't remove content preemptively.
evincarofautumn 13y ago
The intent of Facebook’s censorship seems mainly to create a positive environment where a person can feel safe to express their identity. That would attract a majority of people who don’t want to deal with the unpleasant details of the web and internet at large. Sadly, no absolute censorship policy will please everyone, and no relative policy can be enforced consistently.

Svip 13y ago

In the same way I don't expect my government to take care of when people are mean to me. There should be social consequences (and there are) to being unnecessarily rude. I don't mind that people through fits over mean statements, but I mind it when they require laws to fill it in. Surely, government and law enforcement have been things to take care of than people being horrible without being violent.

masklinn 13y ago

> How can they be held accountable for every single thing said by their users?! That could stand if they didn't try to police their users at all, but they do, significantly, on a number of areas: facebook has banned or censored groups and images on such sujects as breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects[0]. Yet, and there's the rub, rape and violence groups were allowed to run unimpeded and reports were generally ignored when they didn't lead to the complainer being blocked. [0] http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/11/does-facebook-hate-all-women-or-just-feminists/ http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/11/does-facebook-hate-al...

AlexanderDhoore 13y ago
I know that's the situation. What I'm trying to say is this: that list (breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects, joking about rape, violence...) is just going to grow longer, and longer, and longer... In the article it says: "... Facebook says it will process more complaints and will train its staff of reviewers ...". That means they are doing a big part of the censoring MANUALLY! You will NEVER be able to remove garbage faster than people creating it.
- masklinn 13y ago
  > I know that's the situation. What I'm trying to say is this: that list (breastfeeding, breast cancer or children with birth defects, joking about rape, violence...) is just going to grow longer, and longer, and longer... Sure, but that's got nothing to do with the part I quoted: you asked why they can be "held accountable" (for extremely loose definitions of "held" and "accountable") for everything their users say, and the answer is: because they decided to police what their users say, once they start policing they're held accountable for what they police and how they police it. > That means they are doing a big part of the censoring MANUALLY! Yes? > You will NEVER be able to remove garbage faster than people creating it. You probably won't do it automatically either, at least not without significant collateral damages anyway (see: Google). And as far as I know, Facebook mostly acts on reports (which happens to be the way HN works as well), they generally don't remove content preemptively.

evincarofautumn 13y ago

The intent of Facebook’s censorship seems mainly to create a positive environment where a person can feel safe to express their identity. That would attract a majority of people who don’t want to deal with the unpleasant details of the web and internet at large. Sadly, no absolute censorship policy will please everyone, and no relative policy can be enforced consistently.