The social network will no longer remove graphic images or videos if members are sharing to condemn them. October 21, 2013 3:27 PM PDT (Credit: CNET) Facebook has lifted a ban, implemented in May, that prevented images and videos depicting graphic content such as beheadings and other causalities from being published to the social network. The company is returning to a prior practice of not policing violent content that members share in condemnation of the depicted acts. The social network officially made the about-face earlier this year, though the BBC first caught wind of the controversial reversal on Monday. "Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," a company spokesperson told CNET. "People share videos of these events on Facebook to condemn them. If they were being celebrated, or the actions in them encouraged, our approach would be different." Related posts Facebook inserts video into mobile ads Facebook outages fixed, now 'back to 100%' At Facebook, Zuckerberg still orders teams into lockdown (sort of) Say what? Google will now sell Facebook ads Watch out, PayPal: Amazon's following the money In May, Facebook took a different approach and said it would delete violent videos reported by users. At the time, the company was responding to a backlash that surfaced after two videos depicting executions were passed around the social network. Facebook said then that it was still evaluating its policy around the contentious content, essentially pressing pause on the heated matter for the duration of the summer. Meanwhile, Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, one of the two primary policy documents governing conduct on the social network, continues to state: "You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence." The social network now contends (once again) that graphic content such as beheadings are only a violation of its policy if the content is being celebrated by users. The Facebook spokesperson said, however, that the company is attempting to figure out the best way to give people control over the types of content they find on Facebook. "Since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see," the spokesperson said. "This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content." Though Facebook had previously allowed the content before, the lifting of the temporary ban will surely stir up strong emotions among many members, especially the parents of teens who would prefer to shield their underage children from such graphic material.
The social network will no longer remove graphic images or videos if members are sharing to condemn them.
Facebook has lifted a ban, implemented in May, that prevented images and videos depicting graphic content such as beheadings and other causalities from being published to the social network. The company is returning to a prior practice of not policing violent content that members share in condemnation of the depicted acts.
The social network officially made the about-face earlier this year, though the BBC first caught wind of the controversial reversal on Monday.
"Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," a company spokesperson told CNET. "People share videos of these events on Facebook to condemn them. If they were being celebrated, or the actions in them encouraged, our approach would be different."
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In May, Facebook took a different approach and said it would delete violent videos reported by users. At the time, the company was responding to a backlash that surfaced after two videos depicting executions were passed around the social network. Facebook said then that it was still evaluating its policy around the contentious content, essentially pressing pause on the heated matter for the duration of the summer.
Meanwhile, Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, one of the two primary policy documents governing conduct on the social network, continues to state: "You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence."
The social network now contends (once again) that graphic content such as beheadings are only a violation of its policy if the content is being celebrated by users. The Facebook spokesperson said, however, that the company is attempting to figure out the best way to give people control over the types of content they find on Facebook.
"Since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see," the spokesperson said. "This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content."
Though Facebook had previously allowed the content before, the lifting of the temporary ban will surely stir up strong emotions among many members, especially the parents of teens who would prefer to shield their underage children from such graphic material.
