Sorry if this has been posted, havnt had much time to look.
Facebook shuts ex j-dub site for "hate speech"
by GoneAwol 9 Replies latest social current
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OrphanCrow
It may have been temporarily unavailable, but the Facebook page is still accessible:
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darkspilver
It may have been temporarily unavailable, but the Facebook page is still accessible:
I think that's a new 'page'?
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6pvj6k/facebook_shuts_down_exjw_group_for_hate_speech/Also, compare with: https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6o6fiz/the_truth_about_jwfacts_facebook_hate_page/
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LongHairGal
I'm sure JWs are behind this..On Facebook lately they have reconfigured things so that if, for example, I don't like what somebody posted and click on it, you get a menu of things to select as to why you "don't like" the post.
I think "hate speech" is one of the options. If enough people do this, Facebook will look into it. Mind you, I doubt very much if anybody at FB had analyzed why people don't like JWs and they may just go ahead and block something if there are enough senders with the same complaint.
Sounds like "Theocratic warfare" to me.
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Londo111
Hopefully this discussion will not disappear.
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sparrowdown
I 'm sure regular JWs would be happy to engage in some "online persona management" (sock puppetry) free of charge for their Lords and Masters WT.
Although I also suspect there are the bethelites assigned to the task, we probly have had some here.
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John Davis
JWs or Watchtower may have nothing to do with this actually. Facebook had a lot of bad press earlier this year with suicides being filmed on Facebook Live and broadcasted. Facebook then decided in May to hire an additional 3000 reviewers and up their algorithms to proactively take down things that break their code of conduct. It is also noteworthy to remember Facebook is not a government and cannot be forced to keep any speech that it deems offensive up. It is a private company that can choose what they allow and who they allow to speak. Just like this site or JWSurvey any other site that allows for comments, they owner of the site can choose at a moment's notice to take down anything they don't like and there is no recourse.
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John Davis
There was even a case of the famous Vietnam War picture of a little girl running because the village was hit by napalm and her clothes burned off. An anti-war group or something had posted that picture to show the horrors of war, but Facebook considered it a child pornography and took down the picture and warned the group about their conduct. The picture has been in textbooks for years but Facebook algorithms and moderators still responded in that way.
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Simon
I have to delete comments that people post here that are sometimes "hate speech" and directed towards JWs simply because they are JWs. I would not be surprised if someone was lax in properly moderating a fb group and allowed such things to fester - it's easy to be "popular" by allowing such things but gives an opportunity to a group to shut things down.
But I've seen "the WTS tried to shut us down" claims by Lloyd before and they are overhyped. If you ignore emails from your ISP about DMCA requests then yes, they will turn your site off. If you violate copyright, they have the right to do that - part of being a responsible site owner is not violating other people's copyright and responding to legal notices. It's probably "convenient" to claim victimization instead as a way of legitimizing "activism" but it's not the full truth of the matter. I've had many of them over the years, it's not a big deal unless you screw up and ignore them.
Finally, relying on a 3rd party platform that you don't control and then not being very, very careful to avoid any reason for being shown the door is simply foolish. Many of these companies - Google, Twitter, Facebook etc... quickly boot people with non-corporate or other opinions they or their backers don't like. Never forgot - JWs can work at these places and have access to "the zap button". Ex-muslim groups have also had issues on Facebook - it is the perfect platform for knitting groups, less so for things of importance that are polarizing and attract people who will be keen to report rule violations.
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John Davis
Simon, I appreciate you expressing your own experiences with these issues. You are right it is easy for hate speech to creep up even if that is not the intention of the site or the moderator. When emotions get heated common sense doesn't always stay with the person and they will say inappropriate stuff and responses can lead to even more inappropriate talk. Unless you have a moderator who that is their full-time job it is not possible to keep up with all of the moderation that a popular site or group needs to keep it compliant with the site's code of conduct.
When information is taken down due to a copyright infringement that is a legitimate issue that anyone can bring up. Copyright law is extremely complicated and even the idea of fair use is not as simple as some people think it is. Putting up a fair use banner in the front of a YouTube video doesn't negate some people's breaking of the law.