I was scanning through my News Feed on Facebook last night
when I came across a gruesome photo that I thought was entirely inappropriate
for widespread online consumption.
It showed a beheading victim, a young woman’s body, with her
head a couple feet away, and both portions lying on a cement floor in a puddle
of blood. It’s even more disturbing than that simple description but, obviously,
I’m not going to post it on my blog.
For the first time, I immediately contacted Facebook through
their process of reporting inappropriate posts. They responded rather quickly
and essentially said they saw nothing wrong with the photo.
Here’s their email message to me:
|
“We reviewed your
report of Lewis Soldatek's share.
|
|
|
| “Thank you for
taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our Community
Standards. Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe
and welcoming environment. We reviewed the share you reported for containing
graphic violence and found it doesn't violate our Community
Standards.” ________________________________________________ When I investigated a little further, I discovered just how weak the Facebook standards are, in practice and in reality. I felt that the person who shared the photo on Facebook showed very poor judgment, but my complaint was aimed at the group who originally put the photo into wide public circulation and claimed the beheading was the work of Islamic radicals. With all the algorithms and data-mining that Facebook is famous for, it would seem they would have a basic firewall to block material from certain websites. The beheading photo originated from a group in Ireland that uses an acronym, PEGIDA. They placed it on their Twitter account, a site populated Islamophobic and misogynist posts. In turn, PEGIDA Ireland grabbed the photo from a site called BestGore.com, which apparently targets the most twisted humans among us by specializing in photos of murder, rape and torture. The watermark on the photo that showed up in my Facebook News Feed clearly shows that it belongs to Best Gore. I briefly searched for the picture on Best Gore to determine what connections between Islam and Ireland were asserted but quickly gave up because the site offers well over 100 pictures in the category of beheadings alone. So, while the folks at Facebook decided that the Best Gore photo met their standards of providing a “welcoming environment” for the public, here is the warning that instantly popped up on my computer screen when I went to the Best Gore site: |
WARNING: Extremely
Graphic and Explicit Content
You
are about to enter a website that contains photos and videos depicting real
life events. Reality is not always pretty and may be perceived as offensive,
upsetting and shocking. The pages of Best Gore are designed for ADULTS only. If
you are not one, you MUST click on exit now!
By
clicking on ENTER you certify under penalty of perjury that you are 18
years of age or over (if the age of majority is higher in your state,
province or country, then you certify that you are of said age or older), that it
is not illegal to view graphic or adult oriented material in your community and
that you understand that the materials presented at Best Gore are of adult,
obscene, vulgar, disgusting, graphic, gory, disturbing or shocking natures.
By
clicking on ENTER you further certify that you are not offended by such
materials and that you are intentionally and knowingly seeking access to them
for your own personal viewing.
If
you do not meet these requirements, or do not agree with them, then you do not
have permission to use this website from this point onwards and must click on
EXIT now.
It seems that the Facebook folks have some explaining to do.
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