Censorship on Facebook

A disturbing trend appearing on Facebook is post and newsfeed censorship. For some time now, Facebook has been deciding which posts appear on newsfeeds by screening posts and linked comments. They have rightly received widespread condemnation for manipulating the individual newsfeeds in a pathetic attempt to modify moods of its users.

Now posts including bullying, racism, inciting violence, religious persecution, sexual harassment and other abuse should not be tolerated. In such a case, moderation of posts is not only warranted, it should also be encouraged, there is however a limit.

There needs to be a clear code of conduct that users have the choice of accepting or declining to access the network, criticism of the US government should not encroach on personal liberties. Are Facebook denying people the right to protest?

People have the right to criticise government agencies that are not serving the public interest, my criticism of the American agency, the TSA, that is the Transportation Safety Authority was immediately removed from my Facebook feed as soon as it was posted.

One would suppose Facebook has software that scans for key words such as TSA automatically removing such posts as it was removed almost immediately.

This is akin to censorship on the internet, that is pretty much considered taboo. Consumers are considered competent enough to be able to discern between reliable information and propaganda.

Me, I'm not so sure, although the tenants of free speech must stand contrary to my personal beliefs of good taste and decorum. Personal freedom must be upheld at all costs.