Amazing Susan
Feminism, Internet / Social Media, World issues

I’m confused Facebook… (Trigger warning)

May 2013: I was temporarily blocked from Facebook on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, for posting this image on my AmazingWomenRock Facebook page in support of the open letter campaign jointly spearheaded by Women, Action, & Media (WAM), The Everyday Sexism Project and writer/activist Soraya Chemaly:

The image was removed from the AmazingWomenRock Facebook page in the early hours of Wednesday May 22.

When I tried to logon to Facebook I received this notice saying the image violates the Facebook community standards:

This image was removed from my page AmazingWomenRock within hours of being posted, yet allowed to stay on a page called “The Best of Offensive Humour” for months.

This morning, May 25, 2013, members of the Twitter community alerted me to the fact that the image was still on the page (Offensive Humor at Its Best), where it was originally posted in February.

I made this comment on the Offensive Humor at Its Best post (Susan notes: the image and the page were taken down sometime in the two hours following this post going live – a tiny victory in a much bigger war. However, there are thousands more to go. WAM captures new images here on a regular basis):

Susan Macaulay: Hey Facebook! This content was removed from my page and you blocked me for posting it saying it does not conform to your community standards. Question: Why is it OK for it to appear here and not OK for me to post it on my page in protest of it appearing here? #justasking Unlike · Reply · 1 · 4 minutes ago Saturday May 25, 07:52

Then I reported the post per Facebook’s procedure. Twice. Once as “hate speech,” once as “nudity or pornography.”

Facebook responded within seconds, both times with the following auto response:

 

Since then, dozens, maybe even hundreds, of people have reported the image on the Offensive Humor page.

And yet, as of 4:17 pm on Saturday May 25, it remains there (Susan notes: it was taken down shortly after this post went live), despite it having been removed from my page (where I had run it in protest with a link to the open letter campaign). Facebook removed the image from my page and blocked me, because, according to Facebook, I had violated their community standards for posting it.

I’m confused. My question for Facebook remains:

Why does this image, which you removed from my page and for which I was temporarily blocked from Facebook, remain up on a page (which boldly calls itself offensive), despite having been repeatedly reported by me and dozens of others who abhor violence against women?

Why did the image violate your community standards when I posted it on my page, but does not violate your community standards on another page where it remains even now?

I, and the hundreds of organizations (and thousands of people) who support the Women, Action, & Media (WAM), The Everyday Sexism Project and writer/activist Soraya Chemaly, who have joined forces to have this kind of content removed from Facebook, await an answer.

And we will continue to advocate until Facebook takes action on this issue.

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Posted by AmazingSusan

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