Social media giant Facebook recently released statistics regarding how many pieces of sexually explicit content they removed from their platform, and you may be surprised by what you’re not seeing. In the first three months of 2018, Facebook removed over 21 million posts with adult content — over 96% of which was detected with their internal flagging software.
As a user, you’d probably never notice that your feed has been “cleaned up.” Facebook estimates that for every 10,000 pieces of content, between seven and nine of them violated its adult nudity and pornography standards. Most of those removed never get seen or reported by real humans. However, if you’re one of so many who have been falsely reported for violating Facebook’s terms, you’ve definitely noticed — accounts that have sexual content removed are given an immediate temporary ban from using the service, and there’s rarely a way to effectively contest the charges.
It’s hard to put up much protest about Facebook’s adult content policy at first glance — there’s nothing controversial about trying to keep pornographic posts away from 13-year-olds. However, the methodology of implementation leaves something to be desired. Not only does using an image scanner to automatically filter photos leave users vulnerable to false reporting, but it fails to effectively separate sexually explicit content from less racy, sex-positive content. Facebook’s policy also polices gender in a very real way, separating male nipples from female ones. Censoring female breasts has a strong correlation to how strongly we sexualize them, and by extent, female bodies, which can be easily extrapolated as contributing to rape culture and sex negativity. This policy also raises serious questions about what constitutes a male and female nipple with regards to transgender individuals.
In contrast to how effectively Facebook censors sexuality is how ineffective it is at removing hate speech. Only 2.5 million posts considered hate speech were removed during the same three month period, and of those, only 38% were caught by the network’s algorithms. Facebook has admitted that it has work to do when it comes to protecting users from hate speech — in a recent incident, its filters removed part of the United States Declaration of Independence as “hate speech.” The site has also been repeatedly criticized for doling out seven-day bans for such bland posts as the oft-repeated “men are trash” and removing posts about real issues such as police brutality and the Orlando shooting. The German government has even reached out to Facebook regarding its lack of proactive response to racism.
Facebook and all media has a responsibility to society to create a nurturing, positive culture for its users — and it is failing in the application of its automatic flagging software. If we lived in a vacuum, one would assume that nudity is more dangerous than racism, violence, and dead bodies. However, the reality of the situation is that removing nonsexual nudity from view does more to stigmatize healthy sexuality and furthers the idea that naked bodies are something to be ashamed of, not celebrated. Perhaps with time, Facebook and other social media sites will be able to distinguish the difference between pornography for adults, and your average unclothed breast.
References:
Andrew, Elise. “No, You’re Not ‘Hardwired’ To Stare At Women’s Breasts.” IFLScience, 20 Mar. 2018, www.iflscience.com/brain/no-you-re-not-hardwired-stare-women-s-breasts/
“Facebook Community Help.” Facebook, www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10206454154618310
Meltz, Barbara F. “Nudity and the Kids.” Boston.com, The Boston Globe, 27 Mar. 1989, archive.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/1989/03/27/nudity_and_the_kids/?page=full
Merlan, Anna. “Facebook Left Graphic Photo of Dead Woman Up for 36 Hours After Her Boyfriend Allegedly Stabbed Her.” Jezebel, Jezebel.com, 2 June 2016, jezebel.com/facebook-left-graphic-photo-of-dead-woman-up-for-36-hou-1780059778
Packham, Amy. “How Old Your Kids Have To Be To Use Social Media: A Parents’ Guide.” HuffPost UK, HuffPost UK, 29 Nov. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/age-limits-facebook-instagram-snapchat-twitter_uk_5a1e77bbe4b0d724fed4c11f
Rosenberg, Eli. “Facebook Censored a Post for ‘Hate Speech.’ It Was the Declaration of Independence.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 July 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/07/05/facebook-censored-a-post-for-hate-speech-it-was-the-declaration-of-independence/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9cc08989c53c
Watson, Libby. “Facebook Thinks Saying ‘Men Are Trash’ Is Hate Speech.” Gizmodo, Gizmodo.com, 12 May 2017, gizmodo.com/facebook-thinks-saying-men-are-trash-is-hate-speech-1795170688
Yurieff, Kaya. “Facebook Details How Much ‘Bad’ Content Its Removed from Platform.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, money.cnn.com/2018/05/15/technology/facebook-transparency-report/index.html
