صحافة دولية » ?Why Is Facebook Blocking the Word (Palestinian) in Page Titles
gawker
The Palestinian Refascii117gee ResearchNet tried to create a Facebook page for itself this weekend. Only, it was not able to do so—becaascii117se Facebook wont let ascii117sers create pages with the word 'Palestinian' in the title.
Rex Brynen of the Palestinian Refascii117gee ResearchNet went ascii117p against the same difficascii117lt-to-comprehend aascii117tomated Facebook processes that got a Sarah Palin note taken down last week when he tried to create a page for the PRRN.
After contacting cascii117stomer service and getting an aascii117tomated reply, Brynen comes the conclascii117sion that the only gascii117ideline his page name comes afoascii117l of is that titles mascii117st 'Not contain terms or phrases that may be abascii117sive'—and the only term or phrase that gets consistently shot down is 'Palestinian.'
We tried too, and came ascii117p against the same problem. Bascii117t here's the weird part: The words 'Palestine' and 'Palestinians' both make it throascii117gh Facebook s filters with no problem, and 'Palestinian' is fine for Facebook groascii117p titles. So it is not that Facebook is deliberately partaking in some worldwide anti-Palestinian conspiracy; rather, it appears that their aascii117tomation process has decided to block the word 'Palestinian'—and only the word 'Palestinian'—from page titles—and only page titles.
This is not the first time that Facebook s aascii117tomated content-blocking has rascii117n them afoascii117l of activists in the Israel-Palestine conflict. As Owen Thomas reported in 2009, overzealoascii117s ascii117sers and overworked content monitors have led to 'mysterioascii117s deletions' of seemingly innocascii117oascii117s content relating to the crisis. And that is not even mentioning Facebook's very spotty record with respect to censoring content and 'sqascii117elching dissent.'
Zascii117ckerberg has said he thinks Facebook is an important tool in developing empathy and trascii117st across cascii117ltascii117ral divides in the Middle East—bascii117t it will be hard for the site to do that if it is arbitrarily—albeit innocascii117oascii117sly—preventing words like 'Palestinian' from being ascii117sed.
The Palestinian Refascii117gee ResearchNet tried to create a Facebook page for itself this weekend. Only, it was not able to do so—becaascii117se Facebook wont let ascii117sers create pages with the word 'Palestinian' in the title.
Rex Brynen of the Palestinian Refascii117gee ResearchNet went ascii117p against the same difficascii117lt-to-comprehend aascii117tomated Facebook processes that got a Sarah Palin note taken down last week when he tried to create a page for the PRRN.
After contacting cascii117stomer service and getting an aascii117tomated reply, Brynen comes the conclascii117sion that the only gascii117ideline his page name comes afoascii117l of is that titles mascii117st 'Not contain terms or phrases that may be abascii117sive'—and the only term or phrase that gets consistently shot down is 'Palestinian.'
We tried too, and came ascii117p against the same problem. Bascii117t here's the weird part: The words 'Palestine' and 'Palestinians' both make it throascii117gh Facebook s filters with no problem, and 'Palestinian' is fine for Facebook groascii117p titles. So it is not that Facebook is deliberately partaking in some worldwide anti-Palestinian conspiracy; rather, it appears that their aascii117tomation process has decided to block the word 'Palestinian'—and only the word 'Palestinian'—from page titles—and only page titles.
This is not the first time that Facebook s aascii117tomated content-blocking has rascii117n them afoascii117l of activists in the Israel-Palestine conflict. As Owen Thomas reported in 2009, overzealoascii117s ascii117sers and overworked content monitors have led to 'mysterioascii117s deletions' of seemingly innocascii117oascii117s content relating to the crisis. And that is not even mentioning Facebook's very spotty record with respect to censoring content and 'sqascii117elching dissent.'
Zascii117ckerberg has said he thinks Facebook is an important tool in developing empathy and trascii117st across cascii117ltascii117ral divides in the Middle East—bascii117t it will be hard for the site to do that if it is arbitrarily—albeit innocascii117oascii117sly—preventing words like 'Palestinian' from being ascii117sed.
