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Facebook Leak Reveals Rules on Controversial Content

Facebook Leak Reveals Rules on Controversial Content

(Screengrab via Twitter post)

By    |   Tuesday, 23 May 2017 01:06 PM EDT

Leaked Facebook rules reportedly have exposed how the social media giant handles controversial content, including banning posts about killing President Donald Trump and allowing other threats to remain posted.

Facebook bans any comments made by its users regarding the killing of President Trump, but "violent threats against other people are often allowed to remain untouched," according to the Press Association.

A dossier of exclusive Facebook documents shows that "credible violence" like posts that say "someone shoot Trump" are required to be immediately removed by company staff, the Press Associated reported. The reason for that is that the president is a head of state.

When Facebook users publish general posts stating that someone should die, those posts are allowed to remain up because they're not viewed as credible threats.

The Guardian has been investigating Facebook's internal documents amid backlash that the social media giant has taken since tragic incidents -- posted live on Facebook -- have made headlines across the globe in recent months.

The Guardian has investigated more than 100 documents, including "training manuals, spreadsheets and flow charts."

Facebook uses these tools to monitor things like "violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm."

In reviewing a large volume of these types of Facebook posts, moderators have complained about the amount of time they have to make crucial decisions involving some of this harmful content.

"Facebook cannot keep control of its content," one source said, according to the Guardian. "It has grown too big, too quickly."

This comes a week after British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke about wanting to make changes to cyberspace in response to some of the threats posed by internet users, the Press Association noted.

May said the internet brings "a wealth of opportunity, but also significant new risks which have evolved faster than society’s response to them."

"We want social media companies to do more to help redress the balance and will take action to make sure they do," she added. "These measures will help make Britain the best place in the world to start and run a digital business, and the safest place in the world for people to be online."

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TheWire
Leaked Facebook rules reportedly have exposed how the social media giant handles controversial content, including banning posts about killing President Donald Trump and allowing other threats to remain posted.
facebook, leak, rules, controversial, content
358
2017-06-23
Tuesday, 23 May 2017 01:06 PM
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