I have no comment on the specific groups being censored. I am sure that Facebook will be making a handful of mistakes on all sides.
But as a general rule, if Facebook is going to be censoring right-wing extremists, then they had better be censoring left-wing extremists as well. That is not a scandal any more than Facebook censoring right-wing extremists is a scandal. Note that I am not making a "both sides" argument, here. I am not saying that left-wing extremism is more common or as common as right-wing extremism. Just that it does exist, and censoring it is not a unique scandal.
Going easy on extremists because it's "your side" is a huge mistake. Weimar Germany went very easy on right-wing extremists because the courts were politically biased. Almost all left-wing violence was successfully prosecuted, but only a very small proportion of right-wing violence was. That bias is not a good thing. Violent extremism needs to be opposed irrespective of underlying ideology.
fighterpilot 2021-08-19 05:25:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]
lucideer 2021-08-19 09:52:01 +0000 UTC [ - ]
Genuinely curious which specific incidents you're referring to.
fighterpilot 2021-08-19 10:35:13 +0000 UTC [ - ]
"(19/08/2020) FB censor leftist, anarchist and antifa groups equating them to far-right violent groups"
https://theintercept.com/2020/08/20/facebook-bans-antifascis...
I have no comment on the specific groups being censored. I am sure that Facebook will be making a handful of mistakes on all sides.
But as a general rule, if Facebook is going to be censoring right-wing extremists, then they had better be censoring left-wing extremists as well. That is not a scandal any more than Facebook censoring right-wing extremists is a scandal. Note that I am not making a "both sides" argument, here. I am not saying that left-wing extremism is more common or as common as right-wing extremism. Just that it does exist, and censoring it is not a unique scandal.
Going easy on extremists because it's "your side" is a huge mistake. Weimar Germany went very easy on right-wing extremists because the courts were politically biased. Almost all left-wing violence was successfully prosecuted, but only a very small proportion of right-wing violence was. That bias is not a good thing. Violent extremism needs to be opposed irrespective of underlying ideology.