Facebook issues a strange legal warning about your posts - here's what it means
Facebook has a funny relationship with the law here in the U.S. The company has been mired in multiple controversies over the last decade ranging from antitrust investigations to election interference. Mark Zuckerberg himself has even testified before the U.S. Senate on behalf of his company.
And the results so far? Well, let’s just say Facebook has lost a significant amount of money thanks to its legal troubles. Billions of dollars are owed as part of an FTC settlement, for example, but it’s important to remember that these numbers are just a drop in the bucket compared to the company’s actual worth. Tap or click here to see how much Facebook owes.
After so much trouble in court, Facebook is looking for any way it can to cover itself against further repercussions. And now, it’s issuing a bizarre warning to every user about how the content they post could be subject to removal at Facebook’s discretion. Is Facebook going to start restricting free speech? As it turns out, the truth is far more complicated.
Facebook pushes an eerie warning about content being posted
If you’ve been on Facebook at all during the last several days, you may have gotten a strange alert informing you that content you post could be deleted to “mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts.” This word salad of legalese may seem spooky, but what it actually signals is a much broader change in the way Facebook moderates content.
Until recently, Facebook (and other social networks) have been protected by a piece of legislation known as Section 230. This set of rules states that Facebook isn’t liable for what its users post and that the company has the freedom to moderate and remove content as it sees fit.
But all that has changed with Facebook thanks to an executive order signed by President Trump on May 28. Now, per the order, Facebook can lose its Section 230 protections if it is found to discriminate or show bias against users and the material they post.
And Facebook’s response to this order? It’s changing its own rules to protect itself. While it’s not 100% confirmed that Facebook is responding to the President’s executive order, it’s a reasonable assumption due to the timing of this announcement. Facebook, most likely, doesn’t want to get into any more legal hot water if it can help it.
And now, Facebook is arguing that it can fully delete or restrict access to posts providing that the content can lead to negative legal repercussions for the company. In other words, anything that threatens Facebook’s business is no longer allowed.
So what kind of content can’t be posted? Weirdly enough, Facebook isn’t saying how these decisions will be made — only that the company plans to initiate these rules for good as of October 1.
On one hand, this may be good news for people who have asked for Facebook to take a more aggressive stance against sexually inappropriate and violent content making its way to the site (all things which can get the company in trouble legally). Others, however, fear a chilling effect on free speech, and a chance for Facebook to discriminate against users even further.
Yikes! Don't try these dangerous DIY hacks spreading on social media
There’s been a good deal of controversy surrounding TikTok in recent weeks. On one hand, the app is more popular than it’s ever been, and may even surpass other social networking sites in the near future. On the other hand, it’s on the chopping block thanks to an executive order from the President of the United States himself.
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TikTok has been a hot-button topic in the news as of late. On one hand, the app is more popular than ever — with more than 100 million registered users in the U.S. alone. On the other, the app has become a security concern for the U.S. government due to threats of espionage and data collection from Chinese government affiliates.
This military scam is targeting Americans with bogus texts
In 1973, United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced no further draft orders would be issued for the military. This meant the process of conscription by lottery had been officially discontinued.
Flash forward to 2020 and the U.S. military is still the strongest on Earth — but our force is now entirely voluntary. In spite of this, scammers often exploit the American public’s lack of military knowledge to nefarious ends. Tap or click to see how this military dating scam exploded on Facebook.