My recent bout of censorship at the hands of Facebook and Twitter has taught me (at least) one thing. Social media began, at least in the utopian mind of its early enthusiasts, as a way to democratize and decentralize power. It offered everyone, rich or poor, a voice. Everyone could rise if their content was interesting and useful enough to the audience. It was the ultimate meritocracy. You didn’t need to be a multinationals corporation. You didn’t need a massive infrastructure investment. All you needed was an account and a computer.
However, these platforms have devolved into something else. I’m not talking about the garbage, fake news, etc. that drenches our timelines. Rather, Twitter, Facebook and Google have become extensions of state power. In many cases, they are agents of the state implementing its decisions, and collaborators in implementing its oppressions against citizens.
They have become Thought Police, enforcing the rules devised by states to control thought, debate and media within their borders. Isn’t it ironic that we once celebrated the internet as a transnational entity, that would vanquish borders, narrow nationalism and parochialism. That it would free the world and people’s minds to transcend the narrow scope of what they (thought they) knew before.
We’ve now come to see how many ways states can manipulate social media to sabotage their enemies. A perfect case in point is Russia’s successful campaign to put Trump in the White House. Similar campaigns by Russia favored Brexit and generally sowing discord in the west, whenever an opening presented itself.
The former managing editor of Snopes, the online fact-checking site which had a partnership with Facebook to expose fake news, is even more scabrous in her characterization:
Binkowski, who previously reported on immigration and refugees, said Facebook largely ignored her: “I strongly believe that they are spreading fake news on behalf of hostile foreign powers and authoritarian governments as part of their business model.”
In my case, Facebook and Twitter, which are supposed to transcend borders, have become agents of the states in which they do business. Take the Israeli state. The Israeli military censor desperately sought to suppress the images of its commandos who invaded Gaza (interestingly, it cared less that I violated military censorship in naming the commando who died, Lt. Col. Mahmoud Kheireddine). In doing so, it persuaded social media executives that exposing the identities of these Gaza invaders was a form of incitement or harassment against them. Thus, the killers became the victims.
The notion that an Israeli Special Forces team which invades a foreign state, kills citizens of that state, and then almost starts a full-scale war–that these soldiers need protection is ludicrous and offensive. What about the Gazans who need protection from these regular invasions of their sovereignty? What about their dead? What is worse, the exposure of these eight commandos or the IDF’s massive assaults against Gaza?
Why do social media companies need to take directives from the Israeli government and its Lobby? Why do they choose to accede to their demands while dishonoring their users, who bring in the massive amounts of revenue that fuel their extraordinary growth?
If these companies had evolved along the trajectory which appeared set for them in the beginning, they would rigorously stand up for the rights of their users. They would protect their right to free speech on their platforms. When such speech is threatened by outside forces, they would advocate on behalf of the victims. But where did this value go? Why have they forgotten the user?
This particular user believes in fighting back. Thanks to Dennis Bernstein of KPFA’s Flashpoint, who interviewed me (audio stream) for 30 minutes on his daily show. I outlined the broad issues of the Gaza raid itself and the censorship issues, while also talking about Jared Kushner, the Deal of the Century, and NSO Group’s role in the Khashoggi murder. There were a few phone difficulties initially, so the interview beings at around minute 2:00 and goes through around minute 30:00.
This may be part of the overall crisis especially afflicting Facebook, and to a lesser extent Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg have grown stale as they’ve aged. The more we see and hear them the less we like them. We thought that even if they might not be angels, at least their product was powerful and useful. But now we see that their desperate attempts to protect their personal reputations have irreparably harmed the product itself. They lie with a straight face–and to Congress no less, where perjury is a crime.
How else can you explain this message sent to me by a member of the Facebook press team in response to my protest against the 24 hour suspension imposed on me:
…We are committed to protecting the rights of the people who use Facebook, and to enabling people to express themselves freely and safely. Our Community Standards, which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook, seek to encourage expression and create a safe community on the platform. We will remove content that violates these standards when we are made aware of it, including content that violates our policies for identifying law enforcement personnel who are undercover.
Facebook cares about the voices, opinion and rights of all the different communities on Facebook and we will protect and work with them all, whatever their race or religion. We are committed to protecting the rights of the people who use Facebook, and to enabling people to express themselves freely and safely.
Thank you again,
Sarah
It is sheer nonsense in light of the way I was treated. It hasn’t “protected” my rights. It’s violated them (if users can be said to have any “rights” on that platform). It hasn’t enabled me to express myself freely. It’s squelched my ability to do so. I suppose that this sort of boilerplate is to be expected. But it still outrages.
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11 thoughts on “Facebook: People Last, Censors First – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم”
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“The notion that an Israeli Special Forces team which invades a foreign state, kills citizens of that state, and then almost starts a full-scale war”
Gaza is not a foreign State, and even if it was a State, it would be a State controlled by an Islamist terrorist organisation whose very raison d’être is too end the Jewish State.
The Special Forces team had entered Gaza in order to plant surveillance equipment, not as part of an invasion. The team was discovered and a lethal firefight ensued that claimed the lives of an Israeli officer and half a dozen armed Hamas soldiers intent on killing or capturing the Special Forces team.
Regardless, I think it’s fair to say that the founders of Facebook and Twitter never contemplated that their social media platforms would one day be used to subvert democratic elections or expose the identities of secret agents.
I heartedly agree with the above. But I fail to understand that considering you also publish things that could harm diff entities that this censorship would eventually happen.
It is well known that all the social media advancements including money laundering and transferring are also utilized by terror groups and put innocent people in danger. It therefore needs some kind of supervision.
“A perfect case in point is Russia’s successful campaign to put Trump in the White House.”
This is total leftist conjecture and has not been proven.
איזה הוא החכם, הרואה את הנולד.
“Who is the wise man, He who sees the consequences.
But I fail to understand that considering you also publish things that could harm diff entities
Which “different entities” would I be harming? Israeli secret police? Check? Israeli assassins? Check. Israeli violators of international law? Check. If I harm anyone (and that’s certainly debatable) it are the rich, the powerful, the imperious, the murderous. I’m proud of that.
But do tell me how much real harm a blogger, even one who strips the veil off Israeli bad behavior, can do? I’m flattered though that the Israeli censor and petty tyrants like Gilad Erdan and Sima Vaknin Gil (and you) consider me dangerous to their interests.
@ Fast Lane: Gaza is part of Palestine and whatever Palestine may or may not be it sure ain’t Israel. Therefore Israel was invading sovereign territory not its own. Unless you want to argue that Israel was invading its own territory or territory over which it claimed jurisdiction of some sort, which would make it an occupying power. But that gets you into hot water again, doesn’t it?
it would be a State controlled by an Islamist terrorist organisation whose very raison d’être is too end the Jewish State.
OK, so here’s the deal. Comment rules determine that you don’t express your own personal opinions or those of your hasbara handlers as fact. Because they ain’t. If you lie like this again you wil be either moderated or banned. But even if Hamas is a terrorist organization, that would make Israel an equal or greater one. Because Israel and Hamas are locked in a terror embrace. Israel does most of the terrorizing, Hamas most of the responding. The “ending the Jewish state” is an outright lie. No lies here. Especially not lies you can’t even back up with a credible source. Pay heed to what I’ve just written. Do this again & you’re in big trouble here.
The Special Forces team had entered Gaza in order to plant surveillance equipment, not as part of an invasion
OH, I see. So planting surveillance equipment is akin to taking a side trip to Gaza City to share a nice cup of tea with a Gazan? I got news for you: when you are an Israeli commando, you don military gear, you invade Gaza, you kill 7 Palestinians: you’ve invaded Gaza.
Hamas soldiers intent on killing or capturing the Special Forces team.
No, in fact they’d have loved to have captured the soldiers and held them for a prisoner exchange. That shows you haven’t a clue what Gazans or Hamas wants. They don’t want dead soldiers, they want live ones.
the founders of Facebook and Twitter never contemplated that their social media platforms would one day be used to subvert democratic elections or expose the identities of secret agents
What? Now your commandos are secret agents? Really? Now, here I thought they were commandos dressed in military gear (yeah they had disguises, but their uniforms were with them in the car) carrying heavy arms. And you tell me they were secret agents. Thanks for clearing that up.
Facebook and Twitter are now saying ‘no’.
Facebook and Twitter are saying “yes.” Yes, to Israeli censorship. Yes to Israeli killing. Yes to Israeli invasion. Yes, to Israeli violation of the Geneva Convention.
Well maybe the old anti-semitic trope’the Jews are controlling the world is true.
After all it is found is our sources the that world was created for Israel.
@Fast Lane: No, not semantically. Hamas does not want to end Israel as a Jewish or secular or any sort of state. As for recognizing a “Jewish state,” you’ve got a wee problem there, doncha? You’ve left out a “democratic state.” So you’ve conceded that Israel is not a democratic state, but a religious state. I don’t think anyone has to recognize Israel solely as Jewish state. I don’t accept Israel if it means a state that privileges Jews over non Jews and is based on theocratic principles.
It was not “cleansed.” It was rewritten and replaced the old Charter so that flagrant hasbaroids like you wouldn’t have as much ammunition with which to bash it. But of course mindless twits like you will always find a way.
I’m impressed that you went slumming through the Palestinian demi monde to find the new Charter at Middle East Eye. You must’ve needed special dispensation from Hasbara Central to get access to such treif sources.
That’s right Gaza is not a state, although Israel claims in its lying propaganda that it has ended its occupation. By virtue of that fact it has no right to send in anyone to plant listening devices.
Gaza is controlled by a conservative Islamist group that Israel did more than most to set up. Hamas is NOT a terrorist group. It seeks to defend the Palestinians. The label ‘terrorist’ belongs to the Israeli state.
the behaviour of the Israeli squad, which masqueraded as humanitarian relief workers and thus endangered the work they were doing is disgusting in any language. It is no surprise that our hasbarist, who like most such trolls doesn’t reveal its identity, is unable to perceive that.
It is true Gaza is not a state. It is a part of Israel so long Jewish Israel doesn’t allow creating the second state. Those >1.8 million Palestinians of Gaza will one day be equal Israeli citizens with the West Bank 2.3 million Palestinians and then Israel will be renamed Palestine and the star of David will be replaced with another symbol. Hoping that Egypt will take that little piece of land in Gaza and the responsibility of those millions living there is absurd daydreaming. Egypt’s leaders and military knows perfectly well what is their best and free of charge “weapon” against Israeli military superiority and nuclear arsenal. It is the population bomb inside Israel (including the occupied areas) which Israel can not solve without committing a Holocaust. You Israelis seem obviously not to understand that the options are two states (which is now impossible) or Palestine (the one state solution).
Blaming Hamas, Iran, Islam, terrorism etc to justify what Israelis does is in the end irrelevant propaganda. The more violent and brutal the Apartheid reality in Israel (including occupied areas) becomes (which it will), the worse to the dreams of the eternal Jewish Reich.
I have trouble with Gaza being call a state except in the most general terms ( a state of being perhaps) nor a country for that matter. It is occupied, not sovereign. The goal is a Palestinian state united however possible/impossible or far off that is. I don’t know if Palestinians of Gaza would agree. The invasion and killing was what the Israeli occupier felt it had a right to do given it’s power and the situation just as Hamas will continue to respond as it can..
I am wondering if Zuckerberg and Sandberg have loyalties, personal ones, to Israel and so the harassment of you since any criticism/exposure of this right wing government in Israel and it’s tactics is irksome to them personally and certainly this exposure of it’s commandos. I don’t know if I am right but I suspect this.
Possibly the same would be true if you exposed our CIA “operatives” in such an attempt… or for that matter those special forces that went in after Bin Laden. I don’t know. That said the whole damn war from start to finish with Hamas is beyond the beyond as is our own warring and support of war in the Middle East (with Yemen sticking out at the moment). That is the bottom line I feel in your exposing this, i.e. resistance.
I don’t know where Facebook and Twitter lie vis a vis the”free press”. We are coming to terms with this issue, or should be. Certainly the NYT would not have exposed these commandos. Nor would my comment at the Times, if it included this, have been approved. But we know their biases and constraints.
[comment deleted: editorial decisions are mine to make, not yours or anyone else’s. If you don’t like them you don’t have to be here. BItching and moaning about them is not only useless, but a comment rule violation. You are already moderated. Your next violation could result in banning.]
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“The notion that an Israeli Special Forces team which invades a foreign state, kills citizens of that state, and then almost starts a full-scale war”
Gaza is not a foreign State, and even if it was a State, it would be a State controlled by an Islamist terrorist organisation whose very raison d’être is too end the Jewish State.
The Special Forces team had entered Gaza in order to plant surveillance equipment, not as part of an invasion. The team was discovered and a lethal firefight ensued that claimed the lives of an Israeli officer and half a dozen armed Hamas soldiers intent on killing or capturing the Special Forces team.
Regardless, I think it’s fair to say that the founders of Facebook and Twitter never contemplated that their social media platforms would one day be used to subvert democratic elections or expose the identities of secret agents.
Facebook and Twitter are now saying ‘no’.
I heartedly agree with the above. But I fail to understand that considering you also publish things that could harm diff entities that this censorship would eventually happen.
It is well known that all the social media advancements including money laundering and transferring are also utilized by terror groups and put innocent people in danger. It therefore needs some kind of supervision.
“A perfect case in point is Russia’s successful campaign to put Trump in the White House.”
This is total leftist conjecture and has not been proven.
איזה הוא החכם, הרואה את הנולד.
“Who is the wise man, He who sees the consequences.
@ natasha:
Which “different entities” would I be harming? Israeli secret police? Check? Israeli assassins? Check. Israeli violators of international law? Check. If I harm anyone (and that’s certainly debatable) it are the rich, the powerful, the imperious, the murderous. I’m proud of that.
But do tell me how much real harm a blogger, even one who strips the veil off Israeli bad behavior, can do? I’m flattered though that the Israeli censor and petty tyrants like Gilad Erdan and Sima Vaknin Gil (and you) consider me dangerous to their interests.
@ Fast Lane: Gaza is part of Palestine and whatever Palestine may or may not be it sure ain’t Israel. Therefore Israel was invading sovereign territory not its own. Unless you want to argue that Israel was invading its own territory or territory over which it claimed jurisdiction of some sort, which would make it an occupying power. But that gets you into hot water again, doesn’t it?
OK, so here’s the deal. Comment rules determine that you don’t express your own personal opinions or those of your hasbara handlers as fact. Because they ain’t. If you lie like this again you wil be either moderated or banned. But even if Hamas is a terrorist organization, that would make Israel an equal or greater one. Because Israel and Hamas are locked in a terror embrace. Israel does most of the terrorizing, Hamas most of the responding. The “ending the Jewish state” is an outright lie. No lies here. Especially not lies you can’t even back up with a credible source. Pay heed to what I’ve just written. Do this again & you’re in big trouble here.
OH, I see. So planting surveillance equipment is akin to taking a side trip to Gaza City to share a nice cup of tea with a Gazan? I got news for you: when you are an Israeli commando, you don military gear, you invade Gaza, you kill 7 Palestinians: you’ve invaded Gaza.
No, in fact they’d have loved to have captured the soldiers and held them for a prisoner exchange. That shows you haven’t a clue what Gazans or Hamas wants. They don’t want dead soldiers, they want live ones.
What? Now your commandos are secret agents? Really? Now, here I thought they were commandos dressed in military gear (yeah they had disguises, but their uniforms were with them in the car) carrying heavy arms. And you tell me they were secret agents. Thanks for clearing that up.
Facebook and Twitter are saying “yes.” Yes, to Israeli censorship. Yes to Israeli killing. Yes to Israeli invasion. Yes, to Israeli violation of the Geneva Convention.
Well maybe the old anti-semitic trope’the Jews are controlling the world is true.
After all it is found is our sources the that world was created for Israel.
“The “ending the Jewish state” is an outright lie.”
Semantically, you are correct. Hamas doesn’t even recognise a Jewish State or even the State of Israel. To Hamas, Israel is a ‘Zionist entity’.
Let your readers decide what Hamas thinks of the Jewish State. It is all here in black and white in the (cleaned up) Hamas Charter..
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-charter-1637794876
Cleansed, as to the earlier reference to Jews as ‘descendants of pigs, apes’.
@Fast Lane: No, not semantically. Hamas does not want to end Israel as a Jewish or secular or any sort of state. As for recognizing a “Jewish state,” you’ve got a wee problem there, doncha? You’ve left out a “democratic state.” So you’ve conceded that Israel is not a democratic state, but a religious state. I don’t think anyone has to recognize Israel solely as Jewish state. I don’t accept Israel if it means a state that privileges Jews over non Jews and is based on theocratic principles.
It was not “cleansed.” It was rewritten and replaced the old Charter so that flagrant hasbaroids like you wouldn’t have as much ammunition with which to bash it. But of course mindless twits like you will always find a way.
I’m impressed that you went slumming through the Palestinian demi monde to find the new Charter at Middle East Eye. You must’ve needed special dispensation from Hasbara Central to get access to such treif sources.
That’s right Gaza is not a state, although Israel claims in its lying propaganda that it has ended its occupation. By virtue of that fact it has no right to send in anyone to plant listening devices.
Gaza is controlled by a conservative Islamist group that Israel did more than most to set up. Hamas is NOT a terrorist group. It seeks to defend the Palestinians. The label ‘terrorist’ belongs to the Israeli state.
the behaviour of the Israeli squad, which masqueraded as humanitarian relief workers and thus endangered the work they were doing is disgusting in any language. It is no surprise that our hasbarist, who like most such trolls doesn’t reveal its identity, is unable to perceive that.
It is true Gaza is not a state. It is a part of Israel so long Jewish Israel doesn’t allow creating the second state. Those >1.8 million Palestinians of Gaza will one day be equal Israeli citizens with the West Bank 2.3 million Palestinians and then Israel will be renamed Palestine and the star of David will be replaced with another symbol. Hoping that Egypt will take that little piece of land in Gaza and the responsibility of those millions living there is absurd daydreaming. Egypt’s leaders and military knows perfectly well what is their best and free of charge “weapon” against Israeli military superiority and nuclear arsenal. It is the population bomb inside Israel (including the occupied areas) which Israel can not solve without committing a Holocaust. You Israelis seem obviously not to understand that the options are two states (which is now impossible) or Palestine (the one state solution).
Blaming Hamas, Iran, Islam, terrorism etc to justify what Israelis does is in the end irrelevant propaganda. The more violent and brutal the Apartheid reality in Israel (including occupied areas) becomes (which it will), the worse to the dreams of the eternal Jewish Reich.
I have trouble with Gaza being call a state except in the most general terms ( a state of being perhaps) nor a country for that matter. It is occupied, not sovereign. The goal is a Palestinian state united however possible/impossible or far off that is. I don’t know if Palestinians of Gaza would agree. The invasion and killing was what the Israeli occupier felt it had a right to do given it’s power and the situation just as Hamas will continue to respond as it can..
I am wondering if Zuckerberg and Sandberg have loyalties, personal ones, to Israel and so the harassment of you since any criticism/exposure of this right wing government in Israel and it’s tactics is irksome to them personally and certainly this exposure of it’s commandos. I don’t know if I am right but I suspect this.
Possibly the same would be true if you exposed our CIA “operatives” in such an attempt… or for that matter those special forces that went in after Bin Laden. I don’t know. That said the whole damn war from start to finish with Hamas is beyond the beyond as is our own warring and support of war in the Middle East (with Yemen sticking out at the moment). That is the bottom line I feel in your exposing this, i.e. resistance.
I don’t know where Facebook and Twitter lie vis a vis the”free press”. We are coming to terms with this issue, or should be. Certainly the NYT would not have exposed these commandos. Nor would my comment at the Times, if it included this, have been approved. But we know their biases and constraints.
[comment deleted: editorial decisions are mine to make, not yours or anyone else’s. If you don’t like them you don’t have to be here. BItching and moaning about them is not only useless, but a comment rule violation. You are already moderated. Your next violation could result in banning.]