Print 
PDF
Facebook gave the first-ever sneak peek behind the curtain of the world's largest social media platform this week.
The peek---called the "Community Standards Enforcement Report" was intended to assure the more than 2 billion people who use it that "everything is under control." And Facebook is fair and balanced.
In response, Media Research and 18 well known conservative organizations announced this week the formation of "Conservatives Against Online Censorship."
If you're 1 of the 2,000,000,000 people who use Facebook---Be Informed.
Facebook announced Tuesday that it "removed more than one billion fake accounts, and purged millions of posts that violates its rules in the last year.
This is an overview of Facebook's 81 page report:
Here’s a snapshot of the six areas Facebook fixed.
Bogus Accounts: Facebook disabled 583 million fake accounts during the Q1 of 2018, and 694 million the quarter before. The social network removed 98.5 percent of these accounts before they were reported in Q1.
Sexual Stuff: Facebook’s relationship with nudity is tricky. The company restricts sexual content and nudity because some users “may be sensitive to this type of content,” according to its guidelines. There are some allowances, however, including protests and works of art. Still, the company removed roughly 42 million pieces of racy content for the two aforementioned quarters — accounting for less than a tenth of a percent of content viewed on Facebook.
Graphic Violence: Facebook took action on 1.2 million pieces of graphic violence during Q4 2017, and 3.4 million during the first quarter of 2018. The company said the spike is due largely to implementing better tools for finding inappropriate content.
“We aim to reduce violations to the point that our community doesn’t regularly experience them,” said Facebook VPs Guy Rosen and Alex Schultz in the report. “We use technology, combined with people on our teams, to detect and act on as much violating content as possible before users see and report it. The rate at which we can do this is high for some violations, meaning we find and flag most content before users do.”
Spam: The company axed more than 1.5 billion pieces of spam during Q4 of 2017 and Q1 of 2018.
Hate Speech: Facebook removed 2.5 million comments that violate its hate speech rules so far this year — up from 1.6 million at the end of 2017. Facebook defines hate speech “as a direct attack on people based on what we call protected characteristics — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disability or disease. We also provide some protections for immigration status.”
Terrorist Propaganda: Facebook took down 3 million combined posts of terrorist propaganda during Q4 2017 and Q1 2018. The company said 99.5 percent of these posts are flagged and removed by its internal team before being reported by users.
There's no question Facebook is addressing the problems.
However, the question that looms---at least in the minds of millions of conservatives--- is "What and Who are the problems?"
And what real outcome does Facebook want to achieve? Clarification? Or more deception?
What is "hate speech" or even "terrorist" propaganda, or "spam"?
A lot of conservatives are asking the same questions.
Conservatives Against Online Censorship will draw attention to the issue of political censorship on social media.
Media Research Center, along with 18 other conservative organizations, announced this week that they will urge not only Facebook, but Twitter, Google, and YouTube to address the following 4 areas.
The following is an overview:
1. Provide Transparency with detailed information so everyone can see if liberal groups and users are being treated the same as those on the right.
2. Provide Clarity on Hate Speech. Hate speech is a common term among social media companies, but each define it differently---with vague and open interpretations. Hate speech is most often what ever the Left disagrees with.
3. Provide Equal Footing for Conservatives. Among other things this newly formed group is asking, is that the social media companies stop using organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center--that categorizes Christian groups who oppose the homosexual agenda as "hate groups" or even "terrorist" groups" as arbiter of what is "hate" speech.
4. Mirror the First Amendment--Respect free speech and religious freedom.
Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube have all received a letter asking them to address these issues and begin a conversation as to how the company's credibility can be restored within the conservative community.
Can Facebook (and the others) Be Fixed?
We'll see.
I wholeheartedly agree with those who have formed this conservative group, and I'll be following their reports in both this Faith and Freedom Daily column and our live daily radio program.
However...
A number of surveys show that most, not all, but most employees that work for these social media companies are secular progressive Left---and they support groups and politicians who advance those secular progressive beliefs. Obama and Hillary are poster people for social media. Donald Trump and Mike Pence would not be poster people. You get that.
Progressiveism is built upon the premise of relative, not absolute values, where the end justifies the means.
Therefore to deceive the conservatives to keep them on their platform and keep the revenue alive and well would be a "noble" and near "righteous" act with no negative moral overtones. The right thing to do.
Facebook has censored several of my posts here on Faith and Freedom Daily.
I predict Facebook (and the others) will "work with" conservatives under the pretense of sincerity while "smirking on" with Zuckerberg's self-identified mission of creating a global community in which the liberal, progressive worldview is the norm. What exists outside that "norm" will fall into the "not allowed" cart.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Careful. Be Prayerful.