Facebook Won't Draw Free Speech Line at Hate

Facebook is coming under fire this week for its wishy-washy response to complaints that the site is a safe haven for hate speech. Defending its decision to allow groups dedicated to Jew-hating, Facebook claims to want to "be a place where people can discuss all kinds of ideas, including controversial ones."

But is that the type of social network you want to be a part of?

Further, if people were to take a real stand against this type of talk and boycott Facebook for allowing it, is that the kind of population Facebook would want to be left with?

The issue at hand is whether Facebook should remove groups and discussions on the social network dedicated to Holocaust denial. Let's just say now that these discussions do not comprise thoughtful analyses on the absurd philosophy that the Holocaust didn't happen. They are mainly outlets for anti-Semites to spew hatred. And, for some reason, Facebook doesn't want to pull that rug from under them.

Well. It isn't just for some reason, per se. It's because Facebook -- along with many other sites, confused about where to draw the line on speech -- wants to encourage conversations of all kinds.

That's nice, right? Facebook doesn't discriminate. Except, well, it does, actually. Just recently, Facebook banned photos of breastfeeding mothers from its site, because they're "indecent." Facebook has also removed groups that imply or threaten violence, like "The Isle of Man KKK" group.

But Holocaust-denial and anti-Semitism, well, that doesn't seem to cross any lines.

Texas attorney Brian Cuban (brother of Mark Cuban) has been trying to get Facebook to remove the groups for a year. Yesterday he published an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg on his blog:

The Holocaust Denial movement is nothing more than a pretext to allow the preaching of hatred against Jews and to recruit other like minded individuals to do the same. Allowing these groups to flourish on Facebook under the guise of "open discussion" does nothing more than help spread their message of hate.

But Facebook has been resistant. A spokesman, Barry Schnitt, told CNN, "It's a difficult decision to make. We have a lot of internal debate and we bring in experts to talk about it."

Experts?

For a site that purportedly thrives on transparency, Facebook needs to come up with a clear set of terms that say exactly what is and is not allowed on the site. If hate speech is OK, Facebook needs to say so and not dance around the issue and dress it up as "controversial." If hate speech isn't OK, Facebook needs to make some sweeping changes in how it governs its site.

Facebook probably won't do this. The people at the helm are cowards and would rather cater to deviants than do the right thing for the majority of its users.

If that's the way Facebook wants to go, offended users should take a stand by finding themselves a new social network. On the Web, where censorship is inconsistent and often left to the whims of over-sunned child executives, users need to look out for themselves.

Surely Facebook's ideal demographic isn't a niche audience of anti-Semites, and were that what it was left with, it might reconsider nourishing hate speech.

? Nicole Ferraro, Site Editor, Internet Evolution