Social media giant needs to explain rational behind prohibition policy
Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire Deputy, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has today (Tuesday) called on the social media giant, Facebook, to clarify the thinking behind the company’s strategy where the banning of material to its website is concerned.
Deputy Mitchell O’Connor said the fact that violent and explicit images of decapitations can now be posted and viewed on Facebook, while certain images depicting a mother about to breastfeed her child need to be explained.
“Following on from the lifting of a temporary ban, which was put in place by Facebook in respect of graphic content, images of a violent nature can once again be posted and viewed on the site. The ban, which was put in place earlier this year following complaints from the public about certain images, among them a video of a masked man beheading a woman in Mexico, was said to allow the company a chance to examine its policy in this area.
“While this approach, in itself, is unfathomable, the situation is even more unbelievable, when consideration is given to the fact that, in Facebook’s own words, ‘photos that show a fully exposed breast where the child is not actively engaged in nursing….violate Facebook’s terms’.
“In response to reaction to this new policy from, among others, David Cameron PM, Facebook has said it will consider attaching warnings to content of a violent and graphic nature. The company asserts that the social media network should be a forum where people can post content of this nature so that it can be condemned. It maintains that its approach would be different if the content was being celebrated or the actions being portrayed were being encouraged.
“This is an astronomically naïve view being expressed by a company that really should know better. How on earth does Facebook know the motivation or intentions of the people viewing the material? The prevalence of this sort of content is desensitising people to the horrors of acts of such violence, and this is most noticeable in our young children who are increasingly viewing this material as the rule rather than the exception.
“Facebook is showing increasingly little regard for its younger users, their safety and protection from sinister practices. Just last week, a decision was taken to allow 13-17 year olds to share their posts publically on the internet, raising the risk of their welfare being compromised.
“I am calling on Facebook to explain the thought process which allows for such policies to be adopted and for the ban on beheading videos to be reinstated without delay.”

23 October 2012