allowing beheading videos but removing breastfeeding images, and then reversing the decision to allow graphic violence after public uproar, has led many to question how Facebook should treat controversial content.
Australian users, for example, were enraged by Facebook’s initial refusal to take down an Aboriginal Memes page last year, although Facebook also later reversed that decision and removed the racist page.
Behind the argument over what Facebook “should” or “should not” do, however, is the more complex question of what it actually does.
We know that the situation is complex. Facebook is free for users but its customers are advertisers, so it depends on leveraging value from the aggregation of data about user sharing. It needs to keep both customers and users confident that they can share what they want but secure from content that might lead them to complain or leave.