Facebook is under a lot of issues lately. To make it worse, Mark Zuckerberg's platform is now removing protester groups that suggest people join several protests in the United States. But in their defense, the company said that the removed protester groups recommend violence amid riots, which said to be violating their policies. Meanwhile, Facebook also announces that all Russian and Chinese state-media platforms will soon be labeled on people's feed. Here's why.
Why is Facebook removing protester groups?
Facebook removed almost 200 groups that invite people to join the mass protests happening in the country due to the death of George Floyd, showing 'Black Lives Matter.' But it is not what you think it is.
In a report of Associated Press, the said removed social media accounts were linked to white supremacy groups that aim to show violence amid the mass BLM protests.
"We saw that these groups were planning to rally supporters and members to physically go to the protests and in some cases were preparing to go with weapons," said Brian Fishman, Facebook's director of counterterrorism and dangerous organizations policy.
The accounts on Facebook and Instagram were tied to the Proud Boys and the American Guard, two hate groups that were already banned on the platforms. Both of the banned accounts were said to post hate speech against the black people joining the several protests.
Aside from these white supremacist groups, Facebook also said that they are now looking furthermore on fake accounts that pose as famous personalities, politicians, and other health groups amid coronavirus pandemic.
Russian and Chinese state media are now labeled on Facebook
Meanwhile, a change in the labeling system will soon happen on the platform. Reuters reported that Facebook will soon label all the state-controlled media groups, coming from Russia and China.
This means that Russia's Sputnik, Iran's Press TV, and China's Xinhua News will soon have labels as state-controlled media. Not only that, but it was also reported that all ads from these state-medias will soon be blocked once they target American users on Facebook.
Of course, this action was not taken very well by the countries involved. They even said that Facebook should also focus on U.S. Pres. Donald Trump's controversial claims than pinning them.
"We hope that the relevant social media platform can put aside the ideological bias and hold an open and accepting attitude towards each country's media role," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
Russia's Sputnik advised governments "to regulate Facebook when it tries to impose U.S.-inspired suppression of the freedom of speech."
