How Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Twitter Use Censorship to Kill Free Speech…

megaphone-2

Advisory: Be careful of what you read on social media. The algorithms used by these platforms have no regard for Biblical truth. They target your emotions to keep you engaged on their site so their advertisers can drop more ads. These platforms exist to enrich their stockholders. Consider God’s promise to Believers in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Featured Story

**(**[**ANTIMEDIA**](http://theantimedia.org/)**)***United Kingdom —* Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter play an increasingly important role in our lives, but a brand new study into online censorship has revealed a number of developing trends regarding how social media platforms are attempting to regulate their users’ speech

goodgopher-300x90-1 new

While most readers have likely been lucky enough to evade Facebook jail, others might have friends who have been kicked off the social networking site for designated periods of time for ‘violating community standards.’ Some may even have had their Facebook accounts closed permanently due to the site’s  ‘real names’ policy. Others have likely had posts flagged or removed for containing nudity or other allegedly offensive content.

> **We’re revolutionizing the news industry, but we need your help! [Click here to get started.](http://theantimedia.org/welcome-home/?utm_source=release&utm_medium=NB)**

“[UNFRIENDING CENSORSHIP: Insights from four months of crowdsourced data on social media censorship](https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/onlinecensorship/posts/pdfs/000/000/044/original/Onlinecensorship.org_Report_-_31_March_2016.pdf?1459436925)*” *is a brand new report that draws on data gathered from users of six social networking sites between November 2015 and March 2016. The inaugural study by [Onlinecensorship.org](https://onlinecensorship.org/about/who-we-are) — a collaborative effort between the [Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://www.eff.org/about) (EFF) and [Visualizing Impact](http://visualizingimpact.org/) — asked users to submit reports when their content was reported or their accounts were removed from Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube.

Facebook was the most frequently reported platform, with account suspensions the most reported content type.

– Nudity and false identity were the most frequent reasons given for the removal of  content on Facebook.

– Of 119 reports received from Facebook users, 13% had been asked to prove their identity to Facebook under its name policy.

Instagram users tended to report “inappropriate content” as the reason their content was taken down.

Twitter takedowns tended to be linked to targeted abuse, harassment, or fraud/spam.

– Nearly half of copyright-related takedown submissions came from YouTube.

– 53% of users did not appeal the takedown of their content, 50% said they didn’t know how, and 41.9% said they didn’t expect a response. In four cases content was restored, but in 50 cases the user didn’t receive a response.

– There were widespread reports that flagging is being used for censorship, and 61.6% of users believed that this was the cause for the removal of their content.

***“****The content was the Wikipedia photo of human anatomy showing a man and a woman in full frontal nudity. It is against Facebook’s guidelines about nudity,” *reads one case study.

Although measures were used to help verify reports — and users were given the opportunity to send screenshots to support their claims — onlinecensorship.org did not work with the social media companies to obtain their data. Consequently, the study does not claim to be representative of all content takedowns or user experiences.

EFF explained the importance of tracking how social media companies are regulating the speech of their users:

“As self-ordained content moderators, these companies face thorny issues; deciding what constitutes hate speech, harassment, and terrorism is challenging, particularly across many different cultures, languages, and social circumstances.”

EFF added that while the U.S.-based companies don’t believe their policies constitute censorship, the purpose of onlinecensorship.org is to challenge this assertion by examining how their policies (and their enforcement) may be having a chilling effect on freedom of speech.

After examining how the policies of social media platforms are being enforced — and how this affects the lives of users — the report goes on to make a set of recommendations for how the social media sites can improve the experiences of users and boost their commitment to free expression.

**READ NEXT: [Wikileaks Drops Hillary Email Bomb That Could End Her Campaign but FB Censored It](http://theantimedia.org/wikileaks-drops-hillary-email-bomb-that-could-end-her-campaign-but-fb-censored-it/)**

Those who wish to report content blocking and online censorship can do so here.


This article (How Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Twitter Use Censorship to Kill Free Speech) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Tyler Menezes. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].

hnewswire.com

All Original Content Copyright ©2017  hnewswire.com All Rights Reserved. “

watchman-on-wall

Tagged In

Newsletter

Must Read

Long-Journey-Home-1
One-Thing
Mark-Cahill-Ministries-1
One-Blinding-Vision

Other Sources

USSANews

Latest News

Watchman: Most Of The World Has Become Enemies of Christ…

By StevieRay Hansen | March 29, 2024

In his epistle to the Philippians, the apostle Paul warned: “For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping,…

Read More

Watchman’s List of Enemies,NBC Removes C.J. Stroud’s Reference to ‘Jesus Christ’

By StevieRay Hansen | March 29, 2024

HNewsWire: Todd Starnes NBC Sports intentionally censored Houston Texans Quarterback C.J. Stroud when he mentioned Jesus Christ. “I just want to give all glory and…

Read More

Watchman: Daily Devotional, Exodus 3:11-12, But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and Bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I Will be With You.”

By StevieRay Hansen | March 29, 2024

Indeed, who are we to be sent by Almighty God as His messengers? That God could use someone like me is a profound wonder to…

Read More

Watchman Update: The Entire System Is Corrupt No God,No Peace, God Knows That Evil Is Not Combated With Love and Understanding

By StevieRay Hansen | March 29, 2024

They’ll Never Take Jesus Out Of My Heart–StevieRay Hansen In 33 States, Satan Soldiers Are in Charge of Managing Voter Rolls, Which Bodes Ill for…

Read More

Watchman Explains: It’s All Because of the Disinformation Highway, Smart Phones, and Stupid People. Crazy Is in Need of an Expert to Explain Why Trans People Are Pure Evil

By StevieRay Hansen | March 29, 2024

They’ll Never Take Jesus Out Of My Heart–StevieRay Hansen HNewsWire: Federal officials are delaying the release of a manifesto written by Audrey Hale, who killed……...

Please join to continue reading. The truth is paywalled, but the lies are free. This content is for Monthly and Annual members only.
Login Join Now
Read More
Focused-Protection-1
Place Your Ad Here

We make every effort to acknowledge sources used in our news articles. In a few cases, the sources were lost due to a technological glitch. If you believe we have not given sufficient credit for your source material, please contact us, and we will be more than happy to link to your article.

StevieRay Hansen

In his riveting memoir, "A Long Journey Home", StevieRay Hansen will lead you through his incredible journey from homeless kid to multimillionaire oilman willing to give a helping hand to other throwaway kids. Available on Amazon.

Leave a Comment