Facebook put the smackdown on Roger Ebert this week, deleting his page after Ebert alleged that drinking and driving may have caused the death of Jackass star Ryan Dunn.
The next day, Facebook restored Ebert’s page, saying the deletion was in error. But was it?
Facebook has on every page the option to report it (see image at left). When commenters are uncensored and post what could be construed as hate messages or other inappropriate content, users can report the violation. ANYONE can report a page and Facebook may disable a page until they can resolve the matter.
It’s a good policy, I think and in the Ebert scenario, where comments were getting pretty heated, may have been appropriate. I don’t think Ebert was at fault — what he said was his opinion and in MY opinion, not at all out of line.
What do you think? Should Facebook be able to censor, based on the categories in the page report feature?
I believe Facebook should be able to censor, but within the parameters it sets. In my opinion, none of the reasons listed in the page report feature justified deleting it. It felt like a knee-jerk reaction to me.
Facebook can do whatever it wants – their rules are arbitrary, pliable and there only to benefit themselves. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive, indifferent or ignorant.
If you don’t own the content and/or platform, the platform can do whatever it wants.