Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been under pressure from more than 79 human rights groups that want the company to reveal its censorship policy.
The pressure on the company comes after it removed content, including those related to Black Lives Matter and numerous other advocacy groups. They have sent a signed letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting him to clarify the policy that the company uses to remove content. The rights groups subjected the company to pressure for removing content that documents human rights violation. Earlier this year, the company was criticized for removing a Vietnam War photo showing a naked burned girl on the grounds of child pornogrophy. Facebook acted quickly and restored the photo.
Facebook officials had previously stated that the Vietnam War photo violated the social network’s policy because it showed a naked suffering child who was photographed without consent. The letter addressed to Zuckerberg stated that the human rights organization is deeply worried about how the company has been handling some cases.
“[We are] deeply concerned with the … cases of Facebook censoring human rights documentation, particularly content that depicts police violence,” stated the organizations through the letter.
They have also complained about the removal of content including the Vietnam War photograph, content on the disabling of Palestinian Journalists and content from black activists among others. The human rights advocacy groups have called on Facebook to make some changes. They want the company to reveal its basic censorship data. This includes the number of times that the company has been forced to take down content by law enforcement agencies.
The human rights bodies have also requested the company to come up with a platform where Facebook users can forward their public complaints when they feel their content is unfairly removed. They also want Facebook to go through an audit that will determine the impact of the company’s video censorship policy on Facebook Live. The group of activists also want the company to stop revealing user data to third party agencies unless the law demands the data to be handed over.
Facebook stock closed the latest trading session at $130.99.