Facebook Censorship: Penalizing the Innocent and Still Missing the Harmful?

Once again Ancient Origins has been blocked by Facebook for posting content deemed not fit for general consumption. This is becoming an almost monthly occurrence, with the site being put on hold for the best part of a month each time. In fact, we are not even sure the self-censored image above will make it past the Facebook automated censorship system, but these days it seems we haven’t got much to lose.

Here are the latest problem images. Last month, Ancient Origins was put on hold for showing images from an Egyptian papyrus of the process of circumcision in Egypt – warning images of total nudity coming up…

Papyrus showing ancient Egyptian men undergoing circumcision. (archivohistoria/CC BY 4.0)

Even after appeal (where one would guess a human might be involved) this image does not pass Facebook community’s nudity or sexual activity rules:

So have Facebook got it right, and Ancient Origins have it wrong? Maybe we need to change our own moderation standards.

In the last week, the problem has been an article regarding a bog body which has the image below, flagged as breaking the community’s rules on violence. Warning, potentially disturbing image ahead.

A bog body, severed at the waist, known as Clonycavan Man. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Now, admittedly, this image might not be to everyone’s taste, and Clonycavan Man did meet a gruesome and violent death. But is this type of image really the type that should be deemed a danger to society? Ancient Origins has previously been blocked for posting images of Egyptian mummies and classic naked statues.

Is Facebook right to be so cautious? Please do let us know in the comments what your views are here and we can take them into account.

What is going wrong?

It is worth stressing here that we understand that the moderators at Facebook do a difficult job, wading through image after image, many distubing, in order that they don’t get viewed by the unsuspecting public, and actually we owe them a debt for their admirable work. But the pre-filter stage where AI does its bit that currently seems to be lacking.

Social media platforms were once heralded as digital town squares, places where people could freely share ideas, news, and opinions. However, in recent years, these platforms have taken on the role of gatekeepers, wielding the power to moderate, censor, and ban content. And although the intent behind content moderation is to curb hate speech, misinformation, and other harmful content, the reality often falls short of these ideals.

Increasingly, social media platforms are penalizing innocent posts where opinions are simply being expressed, history being told, or images essential to bring the story to life posted are hampering the intention and livelihood, especially of small publishers. And this happens while those intent on posting harmful content still manage to filter through.

It Seems a Civil Society is Not So Easy to Create

The problem is one of achieving a happy balance, you know, like that of civilized society. The town square should be a place where people are free to speak their minds, even protest, but also other people’s rights to be in a public place and enjoy the environment without having to endure offensive or anti-social behavior is protected.

In a well-established society, there are multiple norms and checks to ensure that people are protected to some extent. ‘Freedom of speech’ does have boundaries. You are still not allowed to incite violence, hatred etc. and if you did start this in a town square, you would soon be closed down by either the authorities or by vigilante actions of others in the square.

There are norms of behavior which have developed in a civil society over hundreds, even thousands of years. But some of these are disregarded in social media, where new rules of acceptability have emerged.

If an individual walked around shouting obscenities at all around him, people would just leave the square and would not return until the situation changed.

Similarly, if an individual was repeatedly told, ‘You can’t say that’, ‘You can’t look like that’, they would soon leave and find a place they could talk freely, and wear what they wanted.

People can do that in the real world because there are plenty of other public spaces choose to be.

And this is what is now happening on social media. More choice is opening up with social media platforms. X is now famously the ‘uncensored’ platform heralding ‘freedom of speech’ on which you can say whatever to like to whoever you like with impunity. And that’s great for those who want to use that kind of space, and plenty do.

Facebook is currently endeavoring to be the ‘safe’ space, which is great for those who prefer that kind of environment (if they can get it right).

But it is not easy. In an interview with Vice, an anonymous Facebook moderator reveals just how traumatic the material he was subjected to every day was, saying in his estimate “5-10% of what you see is potentially traumatizing”. So without the censorship, this material is at risk of being in the public domain.

The current game leaders like Facebook and X need to step up, adapt, and create civilized and open spaces that are more like the real world…because if they don’t someone else will, and I suspect it will be them that becomes the next market leader.

Indeed, other platforms are springing up, like Bluesky, who are attempting to create a space that has ‘freedom of speech without freedom of reach’ (nice phrase) so you can say what you want but also control the people with which you engage.

Eventually social media space will evolve, and some kind of civility will emerge. But how crazy that when we have come so far in the civilization of the real world that the social media world seems to be starting from scratch. Come on Facebook, get it right soon, before someone else does!

Top image: Right screenshot of Facebook’s censorship notice. Right; Egyptian circumcision papyrus.                Source: archivohistoria/CC BY 4.0