Gone are those days when staying connected only meant one-to-one conversation via phone calls. At present, social media – Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, reddit and Twitter is enabling people to stay connected 24x7 around the world.
While online chatting, sharing multimedia files is quite convenient, what kind of content should or shouldn’t be allowed is a question to be raised. In the recent past, there have been several instances of explicit/revenge porn videos and images being shared on Facebook and Twitter. Many individuals use the social space to post explicit content to embarrass the ones who have been pictured in the respective images or videos.
A porn-based malware affected over 1,10,000 Facebook accounts in January and February. The malware entered the users’ devices via porn-videos. These videos were shared on the friend’s wall without their consent.
Kevin Bollaert, a California-based revenge porn site operator, was found guilty of 27 counts of identity theft and extortion for posting naked photos of women. Bollaert, the operator charged the women at least $300 to remove the photos.
Such instances draw a line between what type of content is acceptable and what should be pulled down. A video posted as a prank by one person might be upsetting to someone else, but it may not violate Facebook’s standard.
Twitter has banned nudity, stating, ‘intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent.’ Twitter updated its privacy rules soon after Reddit's ban on unauthorised content.
Besides this, Twitter also set aside a list of rules for content boundaries:
Trademark: Twitter reserves the right to reclaim usernames on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those usernames. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others may be permanently suspended.
Private information: You may not publish or post other people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission. You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent.
Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.
Copyright: Twitter will respond to clear and complete notices of alleged copyright infringement. Our copyright procedures are set forth in the Terms of Service.
As reported earlier, the new rule was praised by Cyber Civil Rights Initiative director Mary Anne Franks, who tweeted "@twitter's new policy against #revengeporn is good for #privacy (bad for misogynists)."California in 2013 passed a law which specifically bars revenge porn postings.
The new Community Standard set by Facebook states, ‘Child porn is strictly under screening. Sexual violence and exploitation will be seriously scanned and content will be immediately removed.
If you come across any illegal content, one can report it to Facebook by just clicking on the ‘Report’ tab, which is at the top, right-hand corner. This will enable Facebook to recognize and remove the abusive posts. You can also report Pages, profiles or individual content and videos that violate Facebook’s Community Standard, by clicking on the ‘Report’ link.
