
Title image from the Change.org petition page, displaying headlines of media coverage of the Facebook bans.
A group of Internet and social media users who call themselves “the worldwide community of Ukrainian and Russian FB users” has started an online petition on the Change.org website to protest what they insist is ongoing, unwarranted, and biased blocking of Ukrainian and Russian Facebook profiles.
The petition, titled “Stop political blocking on Facebook,” provides a summary of some of the recent high-profile cases of censoring Facebook users in Russia and Ukraine, and cites them as evidence that “Facebook has become an efficient tool of the Kremlin.” Examples include the December 2014 blocking of the event page in support of the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the more recent takedowns of posts and accounts of prominent Russian online figures such as Rustam Adagamov, Anton Nossik, and journalist Sergey Parkhomenko, as well as popular Ukrainian accounts of journalists Vakhtang Kipiani and Yuri Butusov, and outspoken poet Andriy Bondar.
The petition's authors express regret that Facebook is not taking the situation “seriously enough” (the social network's founder Mark Zuckerberg has addressed some of the concerns publicly, but mostly dismissed the accusations of “political” bias) and call for a stop to blockings of Russian and Ukrainian accounts “until a new moderation system, designed to withstand paid troll attacks and prevent misuse to achieve political aims, is put in place.”
We don’t know why Facebook seems so eager to block people protesting against the Russian government policies. Perhaps its moderator team is not savvy enough, not large enough, or politically biased. […] But whatever the reason, the Russian government has learned to subvert the current moderation system and abuse it for its own political gains.
[…]
Cyber-attacks against opposition that come from Russia and target mainly Russians and Ukrainians may seem like a small problem that only concerns a fraction of Facebook users. However, if this problem is not addressed today, tomorrow the same tactic might be used by governments and political movements across the world to silence their opponents. During the Arab Spring, Facebook became synonymous with the freedom of speech. It will be sad indeed if it turns into a symbol of its suppression.
The petition, started on May 26, has attracted over 1,700 signatures during the first ten hours after its launch, including many prominent Russian and Ukrainian public figures.
Facebook has previously admitted to making some errors when taking down content reported for violations of its community standards, but insists that mass complaints are not considered a “good indicator” of whether or not a post violates the site's policies.
8 comments
Tanya Lokot is a russophobe who tries to create another reality for own readers, telling us about Kremlin’s hands. Mark Zuckerberg explained why Facebook blocks some Ukranian and Russian users(posts): “We don’t allow content that is overtly hateful, contains ethnic slurs, or incites violence.” and according to the FB agreement: “We can remove any content or information you post on Facebook if we believe that it violates this Statement or our policies.” However, crazy Tanya says that Facebook and Maks are russian agents. That is nuts.
Moreover, Tanya is still telling a wonderful story where Russians and Ukrainians are united against Kremlin. Sadly, she leads readers by the nose and she knows that you can write what you want in the “address” field .
Sometimes I think Tanya is a worker of “The Ministry of Truth”(c) 1984
Such racists and war criminals as as Gerashenko and Avakov must be blocked forever
They are not the only war criminals, there are others.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-26/putin-burns-his-dead-to-hide-ukraine-aggression
Better dead.
Facebook has previously admitted to making some errors when taking down content reported for violations of its community standards, but insists that mass complaintsare not considered a “good indicator” of whether or not a post violates the site’s policies.
Note well the phrase “mass complaints”. These are generated by kremlin trolls.