What Facebook and Twitter ban: New tool tracks social media censorship

Have you ever had a post removed from Facebook or Twitter? This week, a group of researchers launch a new tool for reporting social media censorship.

OnlineCensorship.org collects data about what is taken down by Facebook, Twitter, other social sites

Dan Misener · CBC Radio · Posted: Nov 17, 2015 12:32 PM EST | Last Updated: November 19, 2015

Tina Spenst, a B.C. mom, complained in 2013 after she said a photo she posted of herself breastfeeding her daughter was blocked from Facebook. The social media's newly clarified policies state that such photos are now permissible. (Tina Spenst/Facebook)

Have you ever had a post removed from Facebook,Twitter or Instagram?

Whether it's removing photos of women breastfeeding, or political speech being banned, social media sites get to decide what is and isn't acceptable on their services.

But this week, a group of researchers is launching a new tool for reporting instances of social media censorship.

These companies now have as much control over our speech as the state or the church did in the past.- Jillian York, Co-Founder of OnlineCensorship.org

OnlineCensorship.org was founded by Jillian York of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for internet freedom, and Ramzi Jaber of Visualizing Impact, a firm that designs visual tools for presenting data. The new censorship tracker is designed to collect as much information as possible about what content gets taken down from social media.

Launching Nov. 18, OnlineCensorship.org is designed to collect as much information as possible about what content gets taken down from social media. (OnlineCensorship.org)

Although each social media platform has its own terms of service, the rules governing what is and isn't acceptable can sometimes be opaque. By collecting data on what is removed, researchers hope to get a clearer picture of what censorship looks like on the social media platforms we use to communicate every day.

"Basically these spaces are where our daily interactions take place, and these companies now have as much control over our speech as the state or the church did in the past," said York.

Think you've been censored? Fill out a report

Starting Nov. 19, you'll be able to file a report on the new website.

It'll ask you a bunch of questions such as:

Which social network are you using?
What type of content was taken down?
What language was it posted in?
Was a new event associated with the post?

According to York, the survey is in-depth but users can choose to keep their answers confidential. You don't need to submit any personally identifying information if you don't want to.

Bringing social media censorship into focus

Once they have enough reports, York and Jaber are going to crunch the numbers.

The goal of Onlinecensorship.org is to understand how social media services like Facebook enforce their terms of service: how they decide what's acceptable and unacceptable. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

The plan is to do a bunch of data analysis, to create data visualizations, and show what censorship looks like on social media platforms around the world. Because social media companies have to comply with local laws, the researchers are interested in how censorship works on both a country-by-country and topic-by-topic basis.

The goal here is understand how social media services enforce their terms of service: how they decide what's acceptable and unacceptable.

York says it's a good reminder that so much of what we think of as "public discourse" is actually happening on privately-owned online services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

"I think it's really important for us to think what sort of commitment these companies owe us — not necessarily on a legal level, but on a moral or ethical one — to hold up free speech."