Modpress

Facebook har besluttet at fejre det kongelige bryllup i Storbritannien ved at slå ned på ytringsfriheden. Helt specifikt har Facebook netop 29. april besluttet at lukke mindst 50 politiske oppositionssider, skriver anticutsspace:

The Anti-Cuts Space London facebook group has been taken down without warning or permission. In the last 12 hours, facebook has deleted around 50 sites. Message people in extant groups to warn them, and tell them to get on your email list or twitter account instead. Screw you Zuckerberg.

FACEBOOK PAGES THAT HAVE BEEN DELETED IN THE LAST 12 HOURS:
Open Birkbeck, UWE Occupation, Chesterfield Stopthecuts, Camberwell AntiCuts, IVA Womensrevolution, Tower Hamlets Greens, No Cuts, ArtsAgainst Cuts, London Student Assembly, Beat’n Streets, Roscoe ‘Manchester’ Occupation, Bristol Bookfair, Newcastle Occupation, Socialist Unity, Whospeaks Forus, Ourland FreeLand, Bristol Ukuncut, Teampalestina Shaf, Notts-Uncut Part-of UKUncut, No Quarter Cutthewar, Bootle Labour, Claimants Fightback, Ecosocialists Unite, Comrade George Orwell, Jason Derrick, Anarchista Rebellionist, BigSociety Leeds, Slade Occupation, Anti-Cuts Across Wigan, Firstof Mayband, Don’t Break Britain United, Cockneyreject, SWP Cork, Westiminster Trades Council, York Anarchists, Rock War, Sheffield Occupation, Central London SWP, North London Solidarity, Southwark Sos, Save NHS, Rochdale Law Centre, Goldsmiths Fights Back

Hvorfor? Facebook vil åbenbart ikke længere tolerere ubekvem modstand mod regimet i Storbritannien; måske de har fået klager, eller også har de selv besluttet, at den slags politiske sider er “upassende” på en social hyggeside.

Set på Boing Boing, hvor Cory Doctorow advarer mod faren ved at satse for meget på Facebook  – især for politiske græsrodsbevægelser:

Facebook is not suited to the purpose of organizing political causes. It may be an easy place to mobilize people, but between its capricious management and the ease of mining it for social graphs, it is an authoritarian secret policeman’s best friend and a censor’s bosom buddy.

“Capricious” er nøgleordet her. Noget af det mest problemtiske ved Facebooks politiske censur er – ud over det simple faktum, at den er der – at den er så vilkårlig, for ikke at sige komplet uberegnelig. Alle græsrodssider kan potentielt være lukket i morgen, og det gør det svært at stole på den (indrømmet) potentielt set store gennemslagskraft, de faktisk kan have.