The is waging a war on Facebook and, whether you like it or not, your brand may get caught in the crossfire.
[Domestic and sexual violence trigger warning: please use caution when clicking links in this blog post]
These are all pages that Facebook has accepted through their moderation queue, and all pages that the Everyday Sexism Project has highlighted in the last 24 hours. They promote and incite sexual violence, and they sit alongside countless images of and with ‘jokes’ about domestic violence emblazoned across them. As anyone will tell you, they are commonplace on Facebook.
On the other hand, images of a mother nursing her baby, or two men kissing, do not pass Facebook’s moderation policy and are routinely deleted. Quite rightly, Facebook users, lead by Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project, are pushing for Facebook to explain their moderation policy, with some users deleting their Facebook accounts in protest.
The real impact of this campaign, however, will be in the that are advertising on Facebook, blissfully unaware that their ads are appearing on offensive and highly inappropriate content. As an advertiser on Facebook, you have no control over where, or on what page, your ad might appear. You’re given options to target your advertising by location, age, interests or education, but Facebook are yet to give you the option to ensure your budget isn’t spent on advertising on the page “R.A.P.E is just another way to spell F.U.N” alongside an image of a bruised and battered woman in her underwear.
Pretty worrisome.
Facebook have yet to answer to this latest campaign, but have responded to similar criticisms in the past. They said: “There is no place on Facebook for hate speech or content that is threatening or incites violence.” But they also said:
“Groups or pages that express an opinion on a state, institution, or set of beliefs – even if that opinion is outrageous or offensive to some – do not by themselves violate our policies”
There are a few issues that this attitude raises. Firstly, the inconsistent application of policy – one user reported her pet dog’s joke account was removed for breach of guidelines, yet pages inciting sexual violence are allowed to remain. Secondly, while Facebook may want to allow those offensive and outrageous pages to exist, it’s questionable whether they legitimately fall under the descriptor “pages that express an opinion on a state, institution, or set of beliefs”. And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the biggest brands will not want to be associated with these offensive pages (since advertising on them could be construed as endorsing them) and the pressure of their large advertising budgets will eventually need to be addressed.
Facebook’s apparent inconsistent and incomprehensible moderation policy is one of the biggest question marks over the story. Last year, moderation guidelines for images posted on Facebook were leaked, but what is unclear is whether the policy extends to text updates and page creation titles. Simple text filtering is commonplace on even the smallest sites with user generated content – it would be very simple for Facebook to implement this with satisfying results. The fact that they don’t filter and moderate words like ‘rape’ implies that Facebook does not consider pages like these a serious issue. They may argue that such filtering would affect legitimate support pages and groups, which would be a fair argument, however this highlights exactly why human moderation can never be fully replaced by technology. A moderator’s review of flagged content would allow the legitimate pages and groups to flourish, while ensuring that offensive and inappropriate content is removed immediately.
As a result of failing to put in place proper moderation, Facebook has become a hotbed of misogyny, pornography and hate content. The question for brands is: will you stand by and risk your reputation by allowing Facebook to place your ads anywhere, or will you join the Everyday Sexism Project’s campaign and ask Facebook to remove offensive content in order to keep your advertising budget?
Claire is Tempero’s Account Manager for Sony by day, and a feminist activist by night. She has particular expertise in community management, social strategy, insights and influencer outreach. She is the resident office baker and an obsessive theatre goer with her own review blog.
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