“Facebook Rules against Racists were too Specific.” Facebook will only suspend racist so-called ‘white nationalist’ users if they explicitly support the movement.
As a result, many racist messages from visitors remain, a study into the social network concludes.
Facebook is currently suspending users who say they support the ‘white nationalists’.
Support for ‘white separatism’ also results in a suspension of the social network.
However, the rules do not prohibit sharing the group’s racist ideology,
according to a human rights study by Laura Murphy,
the former director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“It means that messages that can do just as much harm as what is covered by the ban can remain on the social network,” Murphy addresses.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg acknowledges Murphy’s conclusion.
“We are going to identify hate texts and symbols of white nationalists so that we can better apply our policies,” she promises in a response.
Now that Murphy has completed the investigation,
Sandberg states he is setting up a civil rights team within Facebook.
It must find similar difficulties with the rules on the platform.