Leaked documents from inside Facebook reveal its guidelines for what to delete and what to keep.
The internal documents from Facebook, revealed by The Guardian, show “training manuals, spreadsheets and flowcharts that give unprecedented insight into the blueprints Facebook has used to moderate issues such as violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm.”
In the reports, guidelines for how Facebook staffers are supposed to handle things like porn, violence, and illegal content are included.
What is probably the issue of biggest concern to many on the right is how Facebook will handle political content and possibly censor posts it doesn’t like.
The guidelines that have been reported on so far are somewhat vague, only speaking in generalities.
In reference to free expression and discussing other viewpoints, their guidelines read, in part:
“When millions of people get together to share things that are important to them, sometimes these discussions and posts include controversial topics and content. We believe this online dialogue mirrors the exchange of ideas and opinions that happens throughout people’s lives offline, in conversations at home, at work, in cafes and in classrooms.”
Facebook, which is a large source of news for many Americans, has faced several accusations of censoring conservative views and news stories. (RELATED: Facebook Responds To Allegations Of Conservative Censorship)
Facebook has also talked about cracking down on “fake news,” and last December announced that it would be using Snopes to check for fake news, a company which is staffed mostly be left-leaning people. (RELATED: Snopes, Which Will Be Fact-Checking For Facebook, Employs Leftists Almost Exclusively)
Facebook continues to profess its determination to fight so-called “fake news,” and has made public its goal to hire 3,000 more moderators for content.
This all comes at a time of increasing public attention being paid to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Some have speculated he might be running for office, especially after visiting the home of an Ohio family that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, as part of an effort to visit all 50 states.
Zuckerberg has recently denied these rumors.