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Sex, Flags, and Ocalan: Facebook Embraces Turkish Censorship

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  • Sex, Flags, and Ocalan: Facebook Embraces Turkish Censorship

    Sex, Flags, and Ocalan: Facebook Embraces Turkish Censorship
    by Nanore Barsoumian

    http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/03/01/sex-flags-and-ocalan-facebook-embraces-turkish-censorship/
    March 1, 2012

    A recently leaked document reveals that in addition to censoring
    sexually explicit, violent, and hate-inciting materials, the social
    networking site Facebook has special rules for content deemed
    unacceptable to the Turkish state. Gawker.com recently posted the
    document leaked by a former employee of oDesk, the firm contracted to
    police the content shared by Facebook users.


    The 17-page manual outlines especially strict policies when it comes
    to Turkey, its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Kurds, and
    imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. No other country enjoys
    such censorship privileges.
    The 17-page manual outlines particularly strict policies when it comes
    to Turkey, its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Kurds, and
    imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. No other country enjoys
    such censorship privileges.

    The leaked document caused outrage among users of social networking
    sites. `EU slams Turkey for freedom of expression violations while
    #Facebook helps Turkey ban Kurdish content. What say you, EU?' asked
    one Twitter user.

    Once a specific post is reported by a Facebook user, moderators are
    instructed to `confirm,' `unconfirm,' `escalate,' or `ignore'
    materials that might be considered offensive. The manual defines
    `confirmed' as `a decision which implies that there is a violation on
    a piece of content, as reported by the user.' Once confirmed, the
    material is deleted. If the post does not constitute a violation, the
    moderator `unconfirms' the material. `Escalate,' on the other hand,
    sends the content to Facebook's internal review team `for further
    action.'

    In its manual, aside from categories dealing with sex, nudity,
    bullying, self-harm, and graphic contents, the manual has an `IP
    Blocks and International Compliance' section. Within it, four types of
    materials are to be `escalated': `Holocaust denial which focuses on
    hate speech'; `All attacks on Ataturk (visual and text)'; `Maps of
    Kurdistan (Turkey)'; and `Burning Turkish flag(s).' Two other types of
    content deemed somewhat less offensive, but still unacceptable, are
    `Any PKK support or [PKK related] content with no context,' and
    `Content supporting or showing Abdullah `Apo' Ocalan.' The latter two
    are to be `confirmed (unless clearly against PKK and/or Ocalan).'

    The categories are further clarified in a section titled `Content that
    should be escalated.' The list includes `Photos AND/OR text making fun
    of/attacking/depicting negatively/criticizing, Ataturk'; `Burning the
    Turkish flag (other flags are ok to be shown burning)'; `Maps of
    Kurdistan (as of now, only maps are escalated; other references are
    merely confirmed)'; and `Holocaust denial (any discussion of holocaust
    denial that contains hate speech should be escalated).'

    Flags of Kurdistan are to be `ignored' - in other words, they are
    allowed. The updated 6.1 version of the manual instructs employees to
    be aware of `PKK versus Kurdistan flags.'

    Following the leak, some Twitter users referred to Facebook as `Fascistbook.'

    `Facebook has surrendered to the fascist Turkish state, and bans
    everything related to the Kurds and Kurdistan. Facebook
    Fascistbook,' tweeted an outraged user, while another wrote,
    `#Facebook discriminates against kurds like hitler's book mein kampf
    discriminates against Jews. We are denied our existence.#Fascistbook.'

    Others were outraged that the content related to Ocalan was censored.
    `The only one man whose pics are banned on #Facebook #Fascistbook is
    Kurdish leader Ocalan. #humanrights abuse,' wrote one user.

    `#Facebook didn't want to be banned in #turkey so [Facebook founder
    Mark] Zuckerberg sold his soul to the devil & now supports oppression
    of Kurds #Fascistbook,' tweeted another.

    Turkey has banned access to thousands of websites deemed offensive.
    Article 301 of the Turkish penal code criminalizes `insulting the
    Turkish people, Republic of Turkey, and governmental institutions and
    bodies.' The video sharing website YouTube was banned in Turkey in May
    2008, after users posted material that authorities said insulted
    Ataturk. Authorities removed the ban in October 2010, but reinstated
    it in November after a clip allegedly showed the former chairman of
    the Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal, in a bedroom with a
    female aide.

    In an open letter to Zuckerberg published on the Kurdish ekurd.net
    website, Hawar Jamal Ameen, an ethnic Kurd, voiced his disappointment
    at Facebook's policies. He said the policies ignore the persecution of
    Kurds in Turkey, and the denial of their basic human rights; the
    imprisonment of Kurdish children who dare to speak their mother
    tongue; Ataturk's involvement in atrocities against Armenians and
    Kurds; and the similarities between Nelson Mandela and Ocalan.

    `I am going to make this an issue of logic, common sense, and
    rationality,' he wrote. `Countless people around the world are abused,
    victimized, and oppressed by their governments but you have not
    mentioned them. It seems that the Kurdish (and only Kurdish) people
    now have to add Facebook to the list of oppressors.'

    `As a Kurd I may be biased but I am not asking you to support an
    independent Kurdish state or for you to allow racist abusive behavior
    towards Turkey or its people, but your policy has clearly been written
    or heavily influenced by a Turkish individual or group that
    specifically promotes Turkish nationalism and the oppression of the
    Kurdish ethnic minority,' Ameen said.

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