Please consider Photo of a Starving Girl in Yemen Prompts Facebook to Remove Posts of Article.
> For a few hours after The New York Times published an article about conflict and hunger in Yemen, Facebook temporarily removed posts from readers who had tried to share the report on the social platform.
> At issue was a photograph of a starving child.
> The article included several images of emaciated children. Some were crying. Some were listless. One, a 7-year-old girl named Amal, was shown gazing to the side, with flesh so paper-thin that her collarbone and rib cage were plainly visible. Tens of thousands of readers shared the article on Facebook, but some got a message notifying them that the post was not in line with Facebook’s community standards.
> Facebook had addressed the issue by Friday night.
> “As our community standards explain, we don’t allow nude images of children on Facebook, but we know this is an important image of global significance,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “We’re restoring the posts we removed on this basis.”
It took Facebook a few hours to realize it made a mistake in removing brutally honest images of the effects of the civil war in Yemen.
The images expose the blatant hypocrisy of the US in backing the corrupt Saudi Arabia regime in its war in Yemen.
This was not a nude image. It is not a “community standards” image. Nor was there any doubt about the authenticity of the image.
Any censor can judge “community standards” however they want, but Facebook is an international phenom, not Podunk USA.
Facebook could have and should have said “we f*ed up yet again” but never expect that.
Rather than rejecting that image, Facebook should have promoted it.
Instead, we had temporary censorship. Next time it might not be temporary.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Allowing Saudi Arabia(sunni) and Saudi Arabia’s regional allies (sunnis) to use indiscriminate bombing and starvation tactics to slaughter the houthis in Yemen (branch of shias) is the biggest mistake Trump has made in foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia should be told to STOP bombing Yemen immediately and the starvation tactics Saudi Arabia(sunni) is using against houthis (branch of shias) in Yemen need to be stopped and USA needs to send food aid to Yemen.
Trump could also tie this food aid to paying US farmers better prices for their products before mid-term elections.
MBS is a war thirsty war criminal (attacks on Houthis in Yemen by Saudi Arabia and it’s Sunni allies and the starvation tactics Saudi Arabia and allies have used in Yemen) and this Saudi Arabia’s war against houthis (branch of shias) needs to be stopped.
It would make Trump the loser of the century if he allowed MBS to continue use Saudi Arabia’s military and US fighter jets to continue slaughter Houthis aka Shias after MBS showed himself to be WORSE than the North Korean rocket-man by clearly ordering the torturing and murder of Saudi Arabian activist and journalist in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey.
MBS needs to go and be persona non-grata in USA and Europe and worldwide and the Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen which has become ethnic cleansing in practice through the starvation tactics and indiscriminate bombings needs to be stopped.
Trump is a WEAK LOSER if he allows Saudis to continue to slaughter Houthis aka Shias in Yemen.
Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner must be the most incompetent presidential adviser EVER in the history of Whitehouse with his sucking up to MBS and continually giving Trump BAD ADVICE.
Was Jared Kushner buddy-buddy Whatsapping MBS even while Saudi thugs tortured and murdered the Saudi activist and journalist in the Saudi embassy in Turkey?
Reality sucks and it is important we see this even if we don’t want to!
As the world matured, communications improved, and as people traveled more many of us hoped the catalyst for war would diminish. Instead, with new technology, mankind has only expanded our abilities to spread death and destruction.
National pride, political agendas, religious and ethnic hatreds are some of the biggest roadblocks to world peace. The article below delves into why we continue to pursue warfare when it has proven to be a pathetic option in bringing about positive change,
Saudi Arabia is run by ruthless killers.
Yemeni government is run by ruthless killers.
Houthi rebels are ruthless killers.
If we fail to pick a side China will fill the vacuum. They’d love to increase their influence in an oil rich region.
Seems more than a bit of a stretch to equate the Saudis and the Yemenis/Houthis. What particular trouble has Yemen caused around the world?
If we have to pick sides, why do we so consistently support the ISIS types? Would be nice if more Americans asked that basic question.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen are backed the Iranian IRGC which is providing them with sophisticated long range missiles that they are using to attack SA, a sovereign nation, and to attack commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden (an act of international piracy), and to attack US warships transiting international waters (an act of war against the US). Glad you’re asking the right questions though.
Saudi Arabia (Sunni) is De Facto committing Ethnic cleansing of Houthis aka Shias in Yemen through indiscriminate bombings and starvation tactics.
Every starving Yemeni child is caused by Saudi Arabia and enabled by USA and Trump NOT telling Saudis to stop.
Starving little children to death in Yemen needs to be STOPPED!!!
MBS should be taken to a war crimes tribunal for the clear war crimes Saudi Arabia has committed in Yemen…
It must have been Yemenis that flew airlines to World Trade Center on 9/11…
Wait a moment 15 of the total 18 attackers on 9/11 were SAUDIS.
Any organization of any significance, is ran by ruthless killers. If one unicorn organization happened temporarily to not be, someone more ruthless than its current ruler, would kill him and take his job.
That is THE fundamental, underlying reason for why all governments need to be strictly limited. As you don’t want the inevitably ruthless killers running absolutely every one of them, to have too much power.
And this is also a prime reason for the necessity of free markets and competition. As the only constraints on the behavior of any company, are external ones. If customers cannot simply leave for a competitor, and employees cannot simply leave to set up competing shop next door, the inevitably ruthless killers running companies, will bleed and starve both groups to eventual literal death. All to make one more fractional penny. After all, if some CEO were too soft hearted, someone more ruthless would kill and/or replace him; in the process adding that one fractional penny to shareholder value.
It’s never a “them” vs “us” issue. Just universal survival of the fittest. “Our” Caudillo is never any “better” than “theirs.” The only difference is, “we” are primarily exposed to media more closely aligned with “our” Caudillo. Ditto “they’ and “theirs.” And all media will just say that which grants them the most privilege. Since they to, inevitably and always, are ran by nothing but ruthless killers.
Facebook own the website and they can do anything they like with it. Your statement is idiotic and has nothing to do with free speech unless of course you believe strangers are entitled to free speech in your bedroom at midnight.
Domain registrars, hosting companies and social media companies are more comparable to utilities such as electricity and postal mail and phone companies.
Facebook and Twitter should be treated like utilities and told to stop censorship just like utilities are not allowed to cut electricity and mail off for people.
I cancelled my Facebook account long ago, and feel better for it. It seems that, for once, I was at the head of the wave, as Facebook’s popularity is dropping. So if Facebook’s little censor had not deleted that image, I — along with many other people — would never have seen it. Maybe that was the point of the temporary deletion? — Drawing attention to the image? It is never pleasant to wonder if one is being manipulated.
As to the image itself — tragic! But unfortunately not an unusual image in a world in which billions of human beings live in poverty, while others live in Venezuela. One has to wonder about the morality of a photographer who sees that child and takes a photo, instead of selling his camera to buy the child medical attention.
And we have to wonder about context. War is Hell; so is disease. What is the root problem for this particular unfortunate child?
In some jurisdictions the jurisdiction decides – future EU. The Gov’s then get to set the narrative and that’s as bad (may be worse as all alternatives have to comply) and there is no chance of any legal challenge.
Imagine what happens when the Gov wants to completely control the narrative?
Facebook is not a public forum, it’s a for-profit company.
Oh goodie.
Then they can be sued for slander, libel and falsehoods for anything on their platform.
You can’t have it both ways.
But a lot of their censorship is driven not by some fascination with censorship held by those working there, but rather by fear of ambulance chasers getting help from government to shake them down if they don’t aggressively censor. That’s the problem.
If some guy abstains from posting pictures of naked kids on his web page because he doesn’t believe it’s the right thing to do, that’s his concern. If his reason for not doing so, is fear of shakedown by someone with government’s help, then it’s everybody elses concern as well. Including the everybody elses too dumb to even understand why.
Facebook IS a public forum. It is a public forum owned by a private company. Anyone everywhere can have a lamebook account. Billions do. It is about as public as you can get. No broadcast publication has ever had such a large audience. Given their influence on the national and worldwide consumption of news and information (they are a monopoly in the relevant economic sphere), some light regulation should be expected. That regulation should not be the kind espoused by people like Senator Christopher Murphy of CT who just replied to me via email that “Private companies should not knowingly facilitate the spread of lies, hate speech, or conspiracy theories, and I applaud the decision by Facebook, Apple, YouTube, and Twitter to ban Alex Jones and his InfoWars program.” They are as unable to discern the truth of statements made, vile as they may be, as are the clueless scions of government. The only regulation necessary is to require that such a company who dominates a space that pretty much defines the public interest (dissemination of news and information) use the lightest touch possible, allowing all voices to be heard unless there is a clear threat to our national interest, like coordination of terrorist activity. That means they most decidedly should NOT be taking down posts or blacklisting anyone like Alex Jones, even if the signal to noise ratio is in the low single digits percent. It is up to every individual to use critical thinking to discern wheat from chaff, it is NOT acceptable for government of private monopolies wielding such influence on the national news flow to do so in their stead. The answer to bad speech is ALWAYS (ok, with very very few exceptions) more speech, not disabling or shutting down the bad speech.
The key sentence in your post is that everyone should be able to make a decision through their own critical thinking. Most people trust what they read especially if its govt propaganda. Jones is a nut I’ll give you that but there are some people gullible to buy his garbage also. People are sheep for the most part and don’t put much effort into thinking for themselves. It would be nice to have a news outlet that gave completely neutral news and then had some non partisan people gave both sides of a story.
Facebook and it’s products Instagram and Whatsapp should be regulated as utilities.
Twitter should be regulated as an utility.
Saudi Arabia vs Yemen is just a skirmish in the greater Sunni-Shia world war.
They have been butchering each for 1400 years occasionally stopping to join forces to butcher and enslave non muslim infidels.
The Koran and the example of the life of Muhammad are quite specific on how to treat infidels – both other sects of islam and non muslim.
It is true that Saudi Arabia and Yemen fighting are just a continuation of the Sunni-Shia conflict.
However it is clear that Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen and starvation tactics against Yemen have reached a level where they should be called ethnic cleansing.
Isn’t this true of all the “news” and any social type of media that is moderated? We are allowed to see what “they” wish to allow us to see. In effect, we get to see their bias, and little else.
Allowed to see what they want us to see. To say what they want us to say. To do what they want us to do. What else is new? Who, or what, have we always been at war with, again? Hard to keep up some times.
Sad thing is even those who like to claim to be for “freedom of speech” cheers the censors on. Any totalitarian idiot is in favor of freedom to say what doesn’t bother him, nor his “community” personally. Just as any hack can be “antiwar” against the war in Vietnam or Iraq.
What matters is sticking to your guns wrt WW2 and the Civil War. And wrt bomb making recopies, advance detailed itineraries of presidential movement, ISIS propaganda and incitement, straight up libel and child porn.
Because FaceBook removes content it finds objectionable, all content that remains is therefore “approved’ by them. They have ceased to be a neutral host of a public forum and are now editors of the contents displayed on their site. By assuming this responsibility, they have also assumed greater liabilities. (Cue the lawyers)