International: Hatebook?
From Pink Paper - Thursday 19 March, 2009. Download a copy here, the article is on page 13.
With 175 million active users, Facebook claims to have a zero-tolerance approach to homophobia. Yet, despite this, the site has a number of burgeoning gay-hate groups which appear to go unchallenged. Eden Carter Wood wants to know why.
Scratch beneath the surface of any community and you're likely to uncover some evidence of social unrest or extremism. Nowhere is that more immediate than online.
Search for gay-hate groups on networking phenomena Facebook and that's exactly what you'll get. Despite its benign appearance, the website throws up numerous groups that actively encourage the mistreatment, humiliation and death of queers. And what's even more unnerving is the time it takes to disable them.
In an age when computer systems are sophisticated enough to weed out problems with the push of a button, there is no excuse for apathy on the world's biggest online fad, but it continues to happen. And seems to be getting worse.
Let's look at the evidence. Facebook's terms and conditions state that while users should be able to express themselves freely, "you may not post or share content that is obscene... make threats of any kind or that intimidates, harasses or bullies anyone, is derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive or hateful."
Yet the site's content suggests otherwise. One of its most prolific offenders is the forum I Hate Gay People. Self-categorised as "just for fun", its aggressive content is anything but.
Boasting 149 members, it's both active and sinister. One wall post describes gay people as "a waste of skin". While others say: "them fags can go to hell", "gays aren't human" and "I don't like being a hater but everything about gay people is wrong! A relationship is supposed to be between a man and a woman..."
But this is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are countless others, including: We Hate Gay People, I Hate Gay Ppl, I Hate Being Gay and I Hate Gay Friendly, each attracting new members every week. A similar group, the imaginatively titled I Hate Gays, includes a message dated 23 February 2009 that reads: "I hate gays. You should all go fucking die, lol."
However, it's not all teenage kicks and bravado. Facebook is home to a wide variety of groups formed to express hatred of ethnic and religious minorities, women, and even animals, and although many groups appear to be the work of adolescents, many larger, well-established anti-gay groups such as the BNP, Westboro Baptist Church and the American Family Association also utilise the site's free messaging services, giving them access to their millions of users. This makes the issue of censorship even more pertinent.
But why are these groups, which are in clear violation of the site's terms of use, allowed to exist in the first place? And how, if at all, are they being policed?
A spokesman for Facebook explained this by passing the buck. According to him, the site is "highly self-regulated", which means that users have the responsibility to flag-up inappropriate content themselves. But just how effective is this?
Facebook remains cagey. The site's spokesman who insisted on remaining nameless was only able to confirm that they have an international team who respond to user complaints. He was unable (or unwilling) to say how many make up the team (Facebook's entire staff numbers around 700), how many reports they receive per month and how long it takes to deal with an incident.
It's clearly not a perfect system.
Canadian user, Stephanie Kerry, who has reported more than 20 groups for homophobic content, says that Facebook's policy is "a joke".
"I want to know that something is being done about my complaint," she told Pink Paper. "I want to know that this battle to end hate crime is being taken seriously and I am not fighting it alone. Facebook is not dealing with this at all," she claims. "It shouldn't take any longer than a day to get rid of a hate group and the people who made it."
Other users agree. A member of Spanish group Denunciemos Los Grupos Homófobos en Facebook (Report Homophobic Groups on Facebook), explains that the 9,900-strong team has managed to get the site to deleted some offenders and offending groups, but only after months of relentless campaigning.
"We normally get the impression that they are not very efficient, even if it seems clear that a group violates Facebook's terms of use. We keep a record of all the groups that were closed down after we reported them, but some of them were abandoned by their administrators after they were warned of the reporting campaign, so a number of them were taken over in the process and deleted by ourselves."
Facebook's anonymous spokesman assured Pink Paper that the networking site tries to respond to complaints as quickly as possible, but conceded that it was "broadly true" that precedence was given to attacks on individuals, with reports against broader groups less of a priority.
In addition, he noted that the site aimed to be an open platform and would not remove content simply for being "controversial", which seems bizarre.
Most websites today have public forums, but few are as lawless as Facebook. The BBC, for example, actively moderates its message boards to eliminate people trying to incite hatred? Why? Because ignoring it would be shooting themselves in the foot and unraveling good business sense.
Let's do the maths - if 10 per cent of Facebook's online community are gay, that means 17.5 million people are being undermined and discriminated against by these groups. Yet Facebook Plc, the company which owns it and made $300 million dollars (£170 million) last year, don't consider it worth of attention.
Having recently come under scrutiny for its questionable consumer ethics, Facebook should be legally and morally watertight. Yet clearly, this is not the case.
So while their policy on malicious or offensive content might appear to be clear and strong, in practice, it's a disclaimer, especially when it states that: "the Company may, but is not obligated to, review the [user content of the] Site."
Should it continue to host anti-gay groups and be less than forthcoming about its content removal practices, it may well find itself losing friends. And making enemies.
Top 10 anti-hate Facebook groups:
1. Human Rights Campaign: Equal rights advocates. More than 34,000 members.
2. College Students Against The Westboro Baptist Church: Forum for counter-protests. More than 28,000 members.
3. Denunciemos Los Grupos Homófobos en Facebook (Report Homophobic Groups on Facebook): Spanish protest group. Over 10,000 members.
4. End Homophobia. Active group with 16,000 members.
5. Against Westboro Baptist Church: Several groups exist to counter this religious protest group.
6. BNP (Brown N Proud): Anti-racist group which attracts racist comments and debate.
7. I support Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals!: Aims to make Facebook users more aware of homophobia. 1,140 members.
8. Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals and Those That Support Them: Created by a secondary school studen.
9. Anti Anti-Gay: One of many smaller groups formed to "stop haters".
10. Facebook STOP SUPPORTING HOMOPHOBIA: Set up by a user to provide a safe space to report homophobic content.
Top 10 homophobic Facebook groups:
1. American Family Association: Currently boycotting Pepsi for their donations to PFLAG and HRC, and visited by occasional ranting users. Almost 50,000 fans.
2. Stop Killing Animals, Start Killing Gays: "Only problem is gays are animals and Jesus was a gay Jew, therefore he too was a hideous animal."
3. We hate Gays: Includes insightful comments like, "Gays are just disgusting in real life."
4. We hate gays.......: A just-for-fun group, reported to administrators 3 March, 2009. It remains active.
5. I hate gays or lesbians: Provocative wall post on 17 February, 2009, suggests throwing gays and lesbians out of Leeds and sending them to Pakistan.
6. I hate lesbians!: "Lesbians are sick in the mind! They need a life.... so who's with me! Lesbians=OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!!"
7. WE HATE GAYS: Reported 4 March, 2009, containing racist and homophobic content.
8. BNP: Numerous groups under this name, most attracting racist and homophobic content.
9. God Hates Fags: Wall posts dating from November 2006.
10. Hate Gays Group: One schoolboy member. Reported to Facebook administrators on 6 February, 2009, but as yet undeleted.
With 175 million active users, Facebook claims to have a zero-tolerance approach to homophobia. Yet, despite this, the site has a number of burgeoning gay-hate groups which appear to go unchallenged. Eden Carter Wood wants to know why.
Scratch beneath the surface of any community and you're likely to uncover some evidence of social unrest or extremism. Nowhere is that more immediate than online.
Search for gay-hate groups on networking phenomena Facebook and that's exactly what you'll get. Despite its benign appearance, the website throws up numerous groups that actively encourage the mistreatment, humiliation and death of queers. And what's even more unnerving is the time it takes to disable them.
In an age when computer systems are sophisticated enough to weed out problems with the push of a button, there is no excuse for apathy on the world's biggest online fad, but it continues to happen. And seems to be getting worse.
Let's look at the evidence. Facebook's terms and conditions state that while users should be able to express themselves freely, "you may not post or share content that is obscene... make threats of any kind or that intimidates, harasses or bullies anyone, is derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive or hateful."
Yet the site's content suggests otherwise. One of its most prolific offenders is the forum I Hate Gay People. Self-categorised as "just for fun", its aggressive content is anything but.
Boasting 149 members, it's both active and sinister. One wall post describes gay people as "a waste of skin". While others say: "them fags can go to hell", "gays aren't human" and "I don't like being a hater but everything about gay people is wrong! A relationship is supposed to be between a man and a woman..."
But this is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are countless others, including: We Hate Gay People, I Hate Gay Ppl, I Hate Being Gay and I Hate Gay Friendly, each attracting new members every week. A similar group, the imaginatively titled I Hate Gays, includes a message dated 23 February 2009 that reads: "I hate gays. You should all go fucking die, lol."
However, it's not all teenage kicks and bravado. Facebook is home to a wide variety of groups formed to express hatred of ethnic and religious minorities, women, and even animals, and although many groups appear to be the work of adolescents, many larger, well-established anti-gay groups such as the BNP, Westboro Baptist Church and the American Family Association also utilise the site's free messaging services, giving them access to their millions of users. This makes the issue of censorship even more pertinent.
But why are these groups, which are in clear violation of the site's terms of use, allowed to exist in the first place? And how, if at all, are they being policed?
A spokesman for Facebook explained this by passing the buck. According to him, the site is "highly self-regulated", which means that users have the responsibility to flag-up inappropriate content themselves. But just how effective is this?
Facebook remains cagey. The site's spokesman who insisted on remaining nameless was only able to confirm that they have an international team who respond to user complaints. He was unable (or unwilling) to say how many make up the team (Facebook's entire staff numbers around 700), how many reports they receive per month and how long it takes to deal with an incident.
It's clearly not a perfect system.
Canadian user, Stephanie Kerry, who has reported more than 20 groups for homophobic content, says that Facebook's policy is "a joke".
"I want to know that something is being done about my complaint," she told Pink Paper. "I want to know that this battle to end hate crime is being taken seriously and I am not fighting it alone. Facebook is not dealing with this at all," she claims. "It shouldn't take any longer than a day to get rid of a hate group and the people who made it."
Other users agree. A member of Spanish group Denunciemos Los Grupos Homófobos en Facebook (Report Homophobic Groups on Facebook), explains that the 9,900-strong team has managed to get the site to deleted some offenders and offending groups, but only after months of relentless campaigning.
"We normally get the impression that they are not very efficient, even if it seems clear that a group violates Facebook's terms of use. We keep a record of all the groups that were closed down after we reported them, but some of them were abandoned by their administrators after they were warned of the reporting campaign, so a number of them were taken over in the process and deleted by ourselves."
Facebook's anonymous spokesman assured Pink Paper that the networking site tries to respond to complaints as quickly as possible, but conceded that it was "broadly true" that precedence was given to attacks on individuals, with reports against broader groups less of a priority.
In addition, he noted that the site aimed to be an open platform and would not remove content simply for being "controversial", which seems bizarre.
Most websites today have public forums, but few are as lawless as Facebook. The BBC, for example, actively moderates its message boards to eliminate people trying to incite hatred? Why? Because ignoring it would be shooting themselves in the foot and unraveling good business sense.
Let's do the maths - if 10 per cent of Facebook's online community are gay, that means 17.5 million people are being undermined and discriminated against by these groups. Yet Facebook Plc, the company which owns it and made $300 million dollars (£170 million) last year, don't consider it worth of attention.
Having recently come under scrutiny for its questionable consumer ethics, Facebook should be legally and morally watertight. Yet clearly, this is not the case.
So while their policy on malicious or offensive content might appear to be clear and strong, in practice, it's a disclaimer, especially when it states that: "the Company may, but is not obligated to, review the [user content of the] Site."
Should it continue to host anti-gay groups and be less than forthcoming about its content removal practices, it may well find itself losing friends. And making enemies.
Top 10 anti-hate Facebook groups:
1. Human Rights Campaign: Equal rights advocates. More than 34,000 members.
2. College Students Against The Westboro Baptist Church: Forum for counter-protests. More than 28,000 members.
3. Denunciemos Los Grupos Homófobos en Facebook (Report Homophobic Groups on Facebook): Spanish protest group. Over 10,000 members.
4. End Homophobia. Active group with 16,000 members.
5. Against Westboro Baptist Church: Several groups exist to counter this religious protest group.
6. BNP (Brown N Proud): Anti-racist group which attracts racist comments and debate.
7. I support Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals!: Aims to make Facebook users more aware of homophobia. 1,140 members.
8. Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals and Those That Support Them: Created by a secondary school studen.
9. Anti Anti-Gay: One of many smaller groups formed to "stop haters".
10. Facebook STOP SUPPORTING HOMOPHOBIA: Set up by a user to provide a safe space to report homophobic content.
Top 10 homophobic Facebook groups:
1. American Family Association: Currently boycotting Pepsi for their donations to PFLAG and HRC, and visited by occasional ranting users. Almost 50,000 fans.
2. Stop Killing Animals, Start Killing Gays: "Only problem is gays are animals and Jesus was a gay Jew, therefore he too was a hideous animal."
3. We hate Gays: Includes insightful comments like, "Gays are just disgusting in real life."
4. We hate gays.......: A just-for-fun group, reported to administrators 3 March, 2009. It remains active.
5. I hate gays or lesbians: Provocative wall post on 17 February, 2009, suggests throwing gays and lesbians out of Leeds and sending them to Pakistan.
6. I hate lesbians!: "Lesbians are sick in the mind! They need a life.... so who's with me! Lesbians=OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!!"
7. WE HATE GAYS: Reported 4 March, 2009, containing racist and homophobic content.
8. BNP: Numerous groups under this name, most attracting racist and homophobic content.
9. God Hates Fags: Wall posts dating from November 2006.
10. Hate Gays Group: One schoolboy member. Reported to Facebook administrators on 6 February, 2009, but as yet undeleted.