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Introducing Offline/Offline!
People in marginalized communities who are targets of persecution and violence are using social media to tell their stories, but finding that their voices are being silence...
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Disappearing Act
Videos from the Syrian civil war are disappearing from YouTube. Can Silicon Valley companies be trusted with our history?
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Big Brother YouTube
The ‘Innocence of Muslims’ video sparked anger in some countries, so YouTube independently blocked it in Egypt and Libya.
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Too Fat for Facebook
Facebook apologized after banning a photo of plus-sized model Tess Holliday for violating its health and fitness advertising policy.
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Systemic Bias
LGBT+ activists have reported that YouTube is demonetizing certain content, particularly that which contains the word “transgender”.
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Identity Management
In 2018, a German court ruled that Facebook’s “real name” policy is illegal.
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What the F*&%?
Twitter has come under fire for suspending accounts that use profanity when engaging with famous users.
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The Wrong Name
“Life is hard when your last name is Butts”—for people with “offensive” last names, social media can be hard to access.
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Rules Are Rules
Facebook apologized to the Anne Frank Center after removing an article posted to its page that contained nude images of Holocaust victims.
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A Step Too Far
Facebook removed the profiles of several top Myanmar officials from its platform and from Instagram in an effort to prevent the spread of “hate and misinformation.”
READ THE STORYWHAT IS ONLINE CENSORSHIP?
Onlinecensorship.org seeks to encourage social media companies to operate with greater transparency and accountability toward their users as they make decisions that regulate speech. We seek to shine a light on why companies make certain decisions about content, and how content takedowns are affecting communities of users around the world.
LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Blunt Measures on Speech Serve No One: The Story of San Diego CityBeat
It’s no secret: Social media has changed the way that we access news. According to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of Americans report getting at least some...
Facebook Releases First-Ever Community Standards Enforcement Report
For the first time, Facebook has published detailed information about how it enforces its own community standards. On Tuesday, the company announced the release...
Blunt Policies and Secretive Enforcement Mechanisms: LGBTQ+ and Sexual Health on the Corporate Web
Dear Tumblr: Banning "Adult Content" Won't Make Your Site Better But It Will Harm Sex-Positive Communities
The Weekly Takedown: 20 June 2018
YouTube’s arbitrary enforcement of its moderation policies drew criticism from gambling vloggers, cannabis channels, and more in this week’s Weekly Takedown.
The Weekly Takedown: 5 June 2018
Spotify reverses hate speech ruling, a new report from EFF, and more in the latest Weekly Takedown!
The Weekly Takedown: 26 May 2018
A new ruling in the US, overblocking on Reddit, Facebook censorship in Lebanon and more, in the latest Weekly Takedown.
11 May 2018: The Weekly Takedown
Users deserve transparency and accountability, which is why we’ve released the Santa Clara Principles and more news in this week’s Takedown.