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Leaked Documents Show Facebook's 'Threshold' For Deleting Pages, Groups (vice.com)

Facebook has repeatedly referenced to lawmakers a "threshold" that must be reached before the platform decides to ban a particular page for violating the site's policies, but it hasn't discussed its guidelines publicly. Motherboard has obtained internal Facebook documents laying out what this threshold is for multiple types of different content, including some instances of hate speech. From the report: One Facebook moderator training document for hate speech says that for Pages -- Facebook's feature for sections dedicated to, say, a band, organization, public figure, or business -- the Page admin has to receive 5 "strikes" within 90 days for the Page itself to be deleted. Alternatively, Facebook moderators are told to remove a Page if at least 30 percent of the content posted by other people within 90 days violates Facebook's community standards. A similar 30 percent-or-over policy exists for Facebook Groups, according to the document.

In a similar vein, another hate speech document says that a profile should be taken down if there are 5 or more pieces of content from the user which indicate hate propaganda, photos of the user present with another identifiable leader, or other related violations. Although the documents obtained by Motherboard were created recently, Facebook's policies change regularly, so whether these exact parameters remain in force is unclear. Of course this still depends on moderators identifying and labeling posts as violating to reach that threshold. [...] Another document focused on sexual content says moderators should unpublish Pages and Groups under the basis of sexual solicitation if there are over 2 "elements," such as the Page description, title, photo, or pinned post, that include either explicit solicitation of nude imagery, or, if the page is more subtle, includes either a method of contact or a location. This slide again reiterates the over 30 percent and 5 admin posts rules found in the hate speech document.

44 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot social media by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey everybody! Send me nudes!

    [*opens email...closes email*]

    Wait. Upon further reflection, it would be best if you didn't send me nudes.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:Slashdot social media by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Too Late.

    2. Re:Slashdot social media by antdude · · Score: 1

      Too late!

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  2. Seems easy to fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just write a bulletin board or blog script such that every time a person makes a post, 2.4 random posts worth of random nonsense is deposited somewhere out of the way. That way you'll always be under 30% objectionable content. You can be the 29% Racist Squad!

  3. Re:Facebook by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    "They," didn't take down Craigslist.

    It's still around.

    You're referring to a small part that Craigslist itself voluntarily took down.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  4. Hopefully wrong prognostication by Veretax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So... how long before some malicious cyber advocate decides to go after certain pages to try to game and use this to try and get content off of Face Book? With this info known, I just wonder if that's a possibility. Thoughts?

    1. Re:Hopefully wrong prognostication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >if they organized they would have taken over the world by now

      You are aware who the president is, right? It's Meme Magic, man!

  5. "hate" by markdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >"5 or more pieces of content from the user which indicate hate propaganda,[...] Of course this still depends on moderators identifying and labeling posts as violating to reach that threshold."

    And the moderators' understanding and definition of "hate propaganda".

    1. Re:"hate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Apparently a picture of Pepe the frog is considered hate by Facebook. We had several people, we think competitors, post pictures of Pepe to our company's page, and Facebook banned us.

    2. Re:"hate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Apparently a picture of Pepe the frog is considered hate by Facebook. We had several people, we think competitors, post pictures of Pepe to our company's page, and Facebook banned us.

      Remember that Clinton, the ADL, and the corporate media declared Pepe a hate symbol because the Trump campaign was using it. And no political reporter has considered it a gaffe that Clinton called the most popular cartoon on the Internet a Nazi hate symbol.

    3. Re:"hate" by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1, Informative

      You say "apparently" like it's not well known as an extremely popular meme with three current crop of neo Nazis. Just like Roman salutes.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:"hate" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      According to leaked Facebook docs they only consider Pepe to be a problem when linked to hateful messages or iconography.

      If you had managed the page properly and deleted those posts and banned those users you should not have run into any problems.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:"hate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As in 'deport illegal immigrants as mandated by the law'?

      Hate is misused to the point of being meaningless 'I don't like something, don't agree, it must be hate'.

    6. Re: "hate" by Bryansix · · Score: 1

      You must be new to the Internet. There is a very common image of Mickey Mouse in an SS uniform floating around. I'm sure you can find it.

    7. Re:"hate" by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      If you had managed the page properly and deleted those posts and banned those users you should not have run into any problems.

      I wonder which more accurately sums this up:

      "Baby, why you gotta make me hit you?" or
      "Service guarantees citizenship!"

    8. Re:"hate" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Are you suggesting that it's Facebook's sole responsibility to moderate corporate pages on its network, for free?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:"hate" by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      I like how you completely sidestep the AC's issue of having the account banned as a result of Facebooks (or more precisely the ADL's) shifting goalposts for censorship, just in order to lay down the "free stuff" card.

      No I'm suggesting that the ADL, Facebook, and their apologists dress themselves in white robes and put on a face of good natured intent, while actually conducting capricious acts that will result in 'free speech' becoming a euphemism for 'goodthink or else'.

    10. Re:"hate" by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      "apparently" the witches, heathens, and infidels need to be identified and dealt with accordingly.

      "apparently" good, upstanding and moral believers should use 'this one weird trick to spot neo-nazis'.

    11. Re:"hate" by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Good point! Mistakes have been made in the past therefore we can't criticize anyone ever for anything.

      I mean it's totally the same, persecuting someone who quietly wants to worship different god and not paying to provide a platform to someone advocating genocide. Absolutely the same yes.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    12. Re:"hate" by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Abortion has been a black/brown genocide! Look at the numbers, it is clear.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    13. Re:"hate" by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      Because we should be so grateful that a religious affiliated political organization like the ADL could become the supreme moral authority of all that is hateful , second only to the SPLC, and that the benevolent masters of our online public square increasingly defer to them. Such is the ADL's very nature that they could only ever be beyond reproach.

      We should even check with the ADL daily for their proclamations, since guilt by association is still guilt by Facebook's standards. Vigilance should be always be required to avoid excommunication.

      Don't even dare to question what they're doing, either. Fascists will not be tolerated.

    14. Re:"hate" by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Nobody ever said it was a hate symbol because the Trump campaign was using it. To the best of my knowledge, the Trump campaign never did.

      They said it was being used by hate groups and neo-Nazis, which it absolutely was. In fact, the Frog's creator recently won a legal action against the Daily Stormer to get them to stop using it.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  6. How does one company control Social Media??? by aberglas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Once upon a time the the internet was distributed. Nobody owns email, "The Web", Usenet.

    But then something went wrong, and now Facebook owns almost all user content. There is no need for that. It should be possible for people to put up content on many different sites and still interoperate.

    What is needed is a good Open Social Media protocol. So the content is separate from the aggregation. Needs a bit of open user ids as well.

    It should not be up to any company's corporate policy to determine what may and may not be said on the web.

    If Goggle had done that, they might have been in a position to take on Facebook.

    1. Re:How does one company control Social Media??? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      A colorful GUI with ads over IRC, usenet, yahoo messenger like networks. All the great services existed before social media.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:How does one company control Social Media??? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The protocol isn't the problem. There is stuff like Diaspora. The problem is that no-one uses it and there is no marketing budget. If you reject all the things that make Facebook evil then there is no revenue stream either, so no incentive to offer the infrastructure and software development needed to make it successful.

      The best thing would be to force Facebook to be interoperable. Shareholders would hire ninjas to assassinate you for even suggesting it but it would be in the public interest. Give people some ownership of their data and profiles.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:How does one company control Social Media??? by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

      The reality is the average person on our planet is a fucking moron

      It would be interesting to see how many people consider you average.

      I know you got mad because I insulted one of your favorite games or game companies because you are mostly likely an idiot consrevative or libertarian of some kind... so I will give you two words in return : Lootboxes and pay 2 win

      So yeah we know who is the fucking moron, the AC who can't deal with the fact games are now not games but gambling simulators for kids. Gaming history be damned. Who cares if we can even play the games of today in 20 years, am I right? That's what makes you average, you don't give a fuck about being screwed.

  7. Under threat from 40 state attorneys general by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Connecticut attorney general, joined by attorneys general of 39 other states, was attempting to press charges against Craigslist, and subpoenaed their records. Craigslist "voluntarily" took the section down in exchange for not having to fight charges in 40 states.

    1. Re:Under threat from 40 state attorneys general by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      No, that's not what happened.

      The company says it made the change because Congress has passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, meant to crack down on sex trafficking of children. It was approved by a landslide in the Senate earlier this week, as NPR's Alina Selyukh has reported, but has been met with criticism by free speech advocates and sex workers.

      Your version frames the action as a settlement via negotiation.

      Reddit reacted similarly, from that same article:

      Reddit has also announced policy changes this week. It said that users could not use the site to "solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services...

      Both these actions, and others, were done BEFORE the legislation was even signed.

      Trump has not yet signed the bill [March 23, 2018 3:52 PM ET], which is known as FOSTA. It passed in the House by 388-25 and in the Senate by 97-2.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  8. Are people still using Facebook? by ghoul · · Score: 1

    The cool kids have moved on. Facebook was OK when only Ivy Leaguers could get an account but now its mostly Grandmas posting pics of grandchildren. I am amazed by the amount of press given to it.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:Are people still using Facebook? by denzacar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's because you're ignorant. Or forgetful.

      EVERYONE is on Facebook.
      Your dead relatives, five generations back, probably have a shadow profile that Facebook is using to finely tune all those ads from Russia they will show the people of your cultural background and heritage.

      It's like the Mafia. It keeps track of everyone you're related to back in the old country.
      So they could make you offers you can't refuse.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  9. Re:Facebook by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

    They were facing criminal liability, not only for fostering prostitution, but for injuries to both johns and prostitutes. There was at least one notorious prostitute murder, described at https://nypost.com/2016/11/25/... , and the "Craigslist Ripper" described at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... . Standing up for the free speech and commercial rights of peaceful customers is one business strategy. Accepting the legal liability for deaths or injuries from illegal activity fostered by your advertising service is a much less attractive business, and I understand that at the time Craigslist ended its adult services, it was a strong motivation to do so.

  10. I think propaganda is more subtle and dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/18/putins-modest-proposal-on-interrogating-u-s-officials-explained/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.114c6d261cba

    Take a look at the recent waltz. 1) Putin claims Bill Browder stole $1.5 billion from Russia. Bill Browder = the fund manager who pushed for the Magnitsky act, named after the Russian anti-corruption lawyer Putin had killed. Russia demands to interview US State and Government officials.

    “Russian authorities yesterday named several Americans who they want to question, who they claim were involved in Bill Browder’s quote-unquote ‘crimes’ in their terms, including former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul,” the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman said. “Does President Trump support that idea? Is he open to having U.S. officials questioned by Russia?”

    2) Sarah Huckerbee Sanders then says that Trump may give Russian investigators permission to question Diplomats and US Citizens to investigate their claims. But has not yet promised anything.

    3) Putin claims the stolen money was used to give $400 million to Clinton to fund her campaign. ($400 million chosen to resonate with the Fox News crowd).

    One step, two step, three step.

    It's an overture, an opening to a dance. Do Republican candidates and Fox News want to coordinate their campaigns with Russia? If so, Putin 'investigators' will make lots of false allegations, in exchange for the Magnitsky being lifted. That's the offer being made there, an offer to dance.

    This is not their first dance. Recall that Bush team spread a rumour that Chelsea's Clinton's wedding was paid for by the Clinton Foundation, and Clinton campaign manager quoted that rumour in an email, an email then hacked by Russia and laundered through Wikileaks, then quoted out of context on Fox. Notice the dance?

    Or the recent indictment shows a Congressman (as yet unindicted) asked Guccifer 2.0 for dirt on his opponent and received a copy of his opponents emails. This was after Guccifer 2.0 was named as Russian intelligence.

    Propaganda works because its subtle and delivered with a fake smile and plastic boops on Fox and Friends, your dose of morning treason.

    1. Re:I think propaganda is more subtle and dangerous by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      Propaganda works because its subtle and delivered with a fake smile and plastic boops on Fox and Friends, your dose of morning treason.

      Of course the best propaganda comes layered in truths. The more the appeal to authority, the better, thus all the unrelated indictments that Mueller can muster must be the correlations that prove causation.

      Now with the obligatory repetition period for establishing the premise is over, so it becomes doctrine. All the better for accusing your political enemies as unpatriotic and traitors, as that never gets old, does it?

      an email then hacked by Russia and laundered through Wikileaks

      I think my favorite aspect to this is still the most Machiavellian one; which is that the greatest "threat to our democracy" that can be leveled against us is the very words of the political class that were never meant for plebeian ears.

      Notice the dance?

      Sorry if I stepped on your toes; I only ever learned the two-step.

  11. UK TV undercover documentary also on this issue by Bruce66423 · · Score: 1

    A TV researcher went undercover in the company to which FB outsources the deletions in Dublin and this is the result;

    https://www.channel4.com/progr...

  12. Facebook Intellectual Property Farce by Grindalf · · Score: 1

    Their media ownership system does not work properly, it can be hacked with false ownership and normally kicks users off on the basis of US ownership, EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE ORIGINAL CREATOR / OWNERS PERMISSION IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. The system's easy to fool too.

    --
    The purpose of existence is to make money.
  13. The Heart of the Matter by BrianMarshall · · Score: 1

    The reality is the average person on our planet is a fucking moron...

    This isn't a problem that can be fixed.

    --
    "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
    1. Re:The Heart of the Matter by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

      The reality is the average person on our planet is a fucking moron...

      This isn't a problem that can be fixed.

      But it's also the reason the internet became centralized - what most people care about is one stop shop for what they use the internet for, so of course the web consolidated. Since most people use the web for mostly banal things easy to centralize.

  14. Re:Facebook by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    We need to keep this guy around even if just for the entertainment value.

    (Queue up "you are creimer posts")

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  15. That's stage 2 by raymorris · · Score: 1

    They removed the Adult Services section after negotiations will attorneys general.

    Later, Congress passed FOSTA, making web sites criminally liable if prostitutes post an ad. Under that threat of criminal liability, Craigslist took down the personals section, because some escorts had posted ads under Personals.

    1. Re:That's stage 2 by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I do not like it at all when someone asks me for links just to piss me off.

      I have a trademarked term: Linksta, that applies.

      So, with my apologies and assurance that I am not trying to piss you off, would you please provide a link that details this?

      It's something that I am not aware of.

      Thank you.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re:That's stage 2 by raymorris · · Score: 1

      Here's one decent link. You can find a ton more with a Google search of "Connecticut attorney general Craigslist".

      https://www.ozarksfirst.com/ne...

    3. Re:That's stage 2 by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Thank you for the link.

      I was not aware of this side of the story.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  16. Thank you. Enjoyed talking by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Thank you. I enjoyed talking to you.

    I had actually forgotten about the most recent developments until you reminded me.

  17. Facebook Mods Don't Even Try by PseudoAnon · · Score: 1

    Now if only we could get moderators to actually flag blatant hate speech that is reported to them. It's like they're paid by the post and just click "doesn't violate community standards" for every post instead of reading any of them. Or maybe they've just given up after seeing massive rates of false/inaccurate reporting. Or perhaps Facebook itself urges extreme caution since people who feel that they've been censored often make a massive deal out of it and spread lies, particularly lies about why they were censored (ex: "I just said that I support Trump!" instead of "I just said that I hope Trump bombs everyone of *insert race or religion here*!").