Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook is often seen advocating and making tall claims about providing complete freedom of speech on the platform. However, time and again his claims have been found in complete contradiction to what Facebook actually does.
Recently, Facebook has announced that it is bringing an update in its terms of service. This update is more like a ‘censorship warning’ which entails that Facebook will remove or restrict access to any content on the platform that can bring legal or regulatory risks for the company all over the globe. This term will come in effect from October 1st, 2020.
Many users in Australia, India and the US have reported that they have received notification updates from Facebook in which the company has warned the users of its changed policy. And the notification further reads that this action will come under section 3.2 of Facebook’s terms of service and will start from 1st October.
The company has recently indicated that they are planning to block people and news publishers in Australia from sharing news. This plan has come into existence after Australia proposed an anti-trust law that asked tech giants like Facebook to pay a fair share of money to Australian media outlets for the news they provide to the platform.
However, now this new change in content moderation and policing is not going to be limited to Australia only, as Facebook has said that this update is going to be global, and it will give more flexibility to the company to change their services in Australia and rest of the world so that the company’s operation is not hampered.
Keeping in mind the past track record of the company, there seems to be a solid purpose behind initiating content censorship like this. Facebook has often faced a lot of criticism over censoring anti-government content. Recently also, Facebook restricted and pulled anti-government posts in Vietnam and the world did not take it well because, on the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg keeps denying such accusations and continues to say that Facebook propagates freedom of speech and expression on its platform.
Now also, the timing of this update is crucial and people all over the world are just joining the dots to connect this move with the upcoming US Presidential Election in November. This change will give authorities in the US and India the power to police content on a greater scale now, and all of this seems to be well-planned and staged for the upcoming election where everyone knows that Facebook would play a pivotal role!
This update is facing a lot of opposition from users all over the world.
Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images
Read next: Facebook announces a new research partnership to examine the impact of both Facebook and Instagram on key political trends in the upcoming elections
Recently, Facebook has announced that it is bringing an update in its terms of service. This update is more like a ‘censorship warning’ which entails that Facebook will remove or restrict access to any content on the platform that can bring legal or regulatory risks for the company all over the globe. This term will come in effect from October 1st, 2020.
Many users in Australia, India and the US have reported that they have received notification updates from Facebook in which the company has warned the users of its changed policy. And the notification further reads that this action will come under section 3.2 of Facebook’s terms of service and will start from 1st October.
The company has recently indicated that they are planning to block people and news publishers in Australia from sharing news. This plan has come into existence after Australia proposed an anti-trust law that asked tech giants like Facebook to pay a fair share of money to Australian media outlets for the news they provide to the platform.
However, now this new change in content moderation and policing is not going to be limited to Australia only, as Facebook has said that this update is going to be global, and it will give more flexibility to the company to change their services in Australia and rest of the world so that the company’s operation is not hampered.
New from Facebook: an additional line in its terms of service.— Maria Flannery (@mariaflan) September 2, 2020
It allows them to restrict access to a user’s content if it’s ‘reasonably necessary’ to do so. pic.twitter.com/nd7c7x0aL1
@Facebook new Terms and Conditions go in two directions.— Norn Eye (@NornEye) September 1, 2020
1. Extending their right to censor any postings that might cause a lawsuit against Facebook.
2. New very wide disclaimers that absolve them from all responsibility regarding any post or ad. #MSE https://t.co/TseRkvuoEn https://t.co/kSWoU2eI1n
Keeping in mind the past track record of the company, there seems to be a solid purpose behind initiating content censorship like this. Facebook has often faced a lot of criticism over censoring anti-government content. Recently also, Facebook restricted and pulled anti-government posts in Vietnam and the world did not take it well because, on the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg keeps denying such accusations and continues to say that Facebook propagates freedom of speech and expression on its platform.
Now also, the timing of this update is crucial and people all over the world are just joining the dots to connect this move with the upcoming US Presidential Election in November. This change will give authorities in the US and India the power to police content on a greater scale now, and all of this seems to be well-planned and staged for the upcoming election where everyone knows that Facebook would play a pivotal role!
This update is facing a lot of opposition from users all over the world.
Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images
Read next: Facebook announces a new research partnership to examine the impact of both Facebook and Instagram on key political trends in the upcoming elections
