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Hurriyet, Turkey
Aug 5 2013
Facebook facing accusations of censoring citizen journalism
Emrah GÃ`LERANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
With its mysterious management team for countries, Facebook continues
to be a difficult place for people to engage in citizen journalism.
The latest case is Ã-tekilerin Postası (The Others' Post), whose site
has been closed twice in the last month for no clear reason by
Facebook management
A pomegranate is the logo of Ã-tekilerin Postası (The Others' Post),
an alternative media outlet on Facebook, whose raison d'être is to
become `the collective voice of minorities, the outcast, the
marginalized and those whose voices have been rendered invisible in
the media; in short, the others.'
But the pomegranate also allegedly violates Facebook's community
standards, as, last week, the logo in the profile picture of
Ã-tekilerin Postası was reported to Facebook for investigation,
resulting in the editors being banned from posting to the page for 30
days.
`It's the most beautiful symbol of social peace,' one of the
co-founders and editors-in-chief behind Ã-tekilerin Postası, who
preferred to talk merely on behalf of the alternative media page, told
the Hürriyet Daily News last week.
`A pomegranate is a whole with a thousand different seeds. There is a
thin layer inside. And that symbolizes our sensitivities. When that
layer is removed, one of the seeds starts decaying. Then the others
[decay too], until the whole fruit is gone,' the editor said, while
expressing incredulity at the Facebook ban. `Isn't that absurd?'
Absurd is the right word when Facebook's censorship policies and
tactics for investigation of its pages are in question. This is not
the first firewall Ã-tekilerin Postası has had to face from the
mysterious Facebook management since its debut about nine months ago.
The site originally began its brand of citizen journalism and digital
activism on Facebook as the Hunger Strike Post (Açlık Grevi Postası)
in late 2012 when the mainstream media mostly stayed silent amid
massive hunger strikes conducted by hundreds of Kurdish political
prisoners.
Facebook has not responded to the Daily News' requests for an
explanation as to the action taken against the site.
`At the time when we were running the Hunger Strikes Post, we had told
our followers that we will discontinue the page if there was not a
single death throughout the strikes,' said Ã-tekilerin Postası. `Many
of our followers told us that what we were doing was very important,
that people's right to news was restricted. They also told us about
the importance of citizen journalism against censorship, and that we
had to continue.'
A name decided by followers
So the Hunger Strike Post, managed by a core team of two and a couple
of constantly changing volunteers, transformed into The Others' Post,
a name decided by followers themselves. As put in a letter written to
daily BirGün in late July, Ã-tekilerin Postası hoped to set `an example
of how to bring together identities as diverse as Kurds, LGBT
communities, animal rights activists, environmentalists, Armenians,
workers, students, believers, nonbelievers, and many more.'
Ã-tekilerin Postası went through a profound change when Turkey
experienced a profound change with the Gezi protests. The page that
was basically a citizen journalism hub for the Kurdish issue, and that
was `mostly shaped with news from Kurds' went on to become one of the
biggest alternative news sources during the Gezi protests.
`Those who felt more threatened and oppressed began looking for news
sources that were alternative to the mainstream media,' said
Ã-tekilerin Postası. `The mainstream media not only turned a blind eye
to the protests, but deliberately tried to break the resistance with
disinformation. Those who took to the streets, those who saw their
friends taken into custody directly experienced how they were deceived
by the media. Because what they were seeing on the evening news and
what they were experiencing on the streets were completely different.'
But the growth in citizen journalism led to problems with Facebook
management. But while the page had to deal with attempts at
censorship, or what Ã-tekilern Postası calls `semi-censorship,' which
included sanctions like `not being able to post, deleting some of the
posts, or some of the comments,' the livelihood of the page was never
at stake.
`However after the Gezi protests, our page was closed twice,' said
Ã-tekilerin Postası. `The first of these [closures], we were told, was
for sharing `pornographic content,'' which after an appeal turned out
to be not the case. Yet the original page with 138,000 followers was
not reinstated. A new page was opened, drawing 88,000 followers in a
mere three weeks, thanks to social media campaigns against the
censorship of the page, only to be closed once again without any
specific reason. Then came the `semi-censorship' for the pomegranate
logo.
The site started a third page in the last week, attracting over 40,000
followers.
`Facebook is doing censorship'
`In short, what Facebook is doing is censorship: blatantly taking
sides and engaging in digital vandalism,' said Ã-tekilerin Postası.
How do Facebook page owners deal with situations like these?
Ironically, the biggest social media network on the planet with more
than 1 billion members is itself unreachable. Facebook's generic forms
and buttons let you send questions, report violations or ask for
appeals. However, when, or if, you will get an answer is entirely
unknown.
`Who are these people?' asked Ã-tekilerin Postası. `Are they really
impartial? In our opinion, no. It is about people working for Facebook
and investigating reports.'
`This is systematic and deliberate,' Cengiz Algan told the Daily News
seven months ago when his Facebook page, DurDe! (Say Stop), Turkey's
biggest grassroots anti-racist initiative, faced a similar case of
censorship.
Noting that Facebook ignored dozens of pages and posts that overtly
advocated hate speech against Kurds and Armenians, Algan said:
`Facebook needs to reassess its operations in Turkey. There are
obviously racist employees in the team.'
According to a leak from a former employee, Facebook has allegedly
been recruiting low-wage third-world contractors to monitor country
pages and delete certain content with no proper systems of control.
Given that, more censorship seems to be on the horizon for citizen
journalists.
August/05/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/facebook-facing-accusations-of-censoring-citizen-journalism.aspx?pageID=238&nID=51996&NewsCatID=374
Aug 5 2013
Facebook facing accusations of censoring citizen journalism
Emrah GÃ`LERANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
With its mysterious management team for countries, Facebook continues
to be a difficult place for people to engage in citizen journalism.
The latest case is Ã-tekilerin Postası (The Others' Post), whose site
has been closed twice in the last month for no clear reason by
Facebook management
A pomegranate is the logo of Ã-tekilerin Postası (The Others' Post),
an alternative media outlet on Facebook, whose raison d'être is to
become `the collective voice of minorities, the outcast, the
marginalized and those whose voices have been rendered invisible in
the media; in short, the others.'
But the pomegranate also allegedly violates Facebook's community
standards, as, last week, the logo in the profile picture of
Ã-tekilerin Postası was reported to Facebook for investigation,
resulting in the editors being banned from posting to the page for 30
days.
`It's the most beautiful symbol of social peace,' one of the
co-founders and editors-in-chief behind Ã-tekilerin Postası, who
preferred to talk merely on behalf of the alternative media page, told
the Hürriyet Daily News last week.
`A pomegranate is a whole with a thousand different seeds. There is a
thin layer inside. And that symbolizes our sensitivities. When that
layer is removed, one of the seeds starts decaying. Then the others
[decay too], until the whole fruit is gone,' the editor said, while
expressing incredulity at the Facebook ban. `Isn't that absurd?'
Absurd is the right word when Facebook's censorship policies and
tactics for investigation of its pages are in question. This is not
the first firewall Ã-tekilerin Postası has had to face from the
mysterious Facebook management since its debut about nine months ago.
The site originally began its brand of citizen journalism and digital
activism on Facebook as the Hunger Strike Post (Açlık Grevi Postası)
in late 2012 when the mainstream media mostly stayed silent amid
massive hunger strikes conducted by hundreds of Kurdish political
prisoners.
Facebook has not responded to the Daily News' requests for an
explanation as to the action taken against the site.
`At the time when we were running the Hunger Strikes Post, we had told
our followers that we will discontinue the page if there was not a
single death throughout the strikes,' said Ã-tekilerin Postası. `Many
of our followers told us that what we were doing was very important,
that people's right to news was restricted. They also told us about
the importance of citizen journalism against censorship, and that we
had to continue.'
A name decided by followers
So the Hunger Strike Post, managed by a core team of two and a couple
of constantly changing volunteers, transformed into The Others' Post,
a name decided by followers themselves. As put in a letter written to
daily BirGün in late July, Ã-tekilerin Postası hoped to set `an example
of how to bring together identities as diverse as Kurds, LGBT
communities, animal rights activists, environmentalists, Armenians,
workers, students, believers, nonbelievers, and many more.'
Ã-tekilerin Postası went through a profound change when Turkey
experienced a profound change with the Gezi protests. The page that
was basically a citizen journalism hub for the Kurdish issue, and that
was `mostly shaped with news from Kurds' went on to become one of the
biggest alternative news sources during the Gezi protests.
`Those who felt more threatened and oppressed began looking for news
sources that were alternative to the mainstream media,' said
Ã-tekilerin Postası. `The mainstream media not only turned a blind eye
to the protests, but deliberately tried to break the resistance with
disinformation. Those who took to the streets, those who saw their
friends taken into custody directly experienced how they were deceived
by the media. Because what they were seeing on the evening news and
what they were experiencing on the streets were completely different.'
But the growth in citizen journalism led to problems with Facebook
management. But while the page had to deal with attempts at
censorship, or what Ã-tekilern Postası calls `semi-censorship,' which
included sanctions like `not being able to post, deleting some of the
posts, or some of the comments,' the livelihood of the page was never
at stake.
`However after the Gezi protests, our page was closed twice,' said
Ã-tekilerin Postası. `The first of these [closures], we were told, was
for sharing `pornographic content,'' which after an appeal turned out
to be not the case. Yet the original page with 138,000 followers was
not reinstated. A new page was opened, drawing 88,000 followers in a
mere three weeks, thanks to social media campaigns against the
censorship of the page, only to be closed once again without any
specific reason. Then came the `semi-censorship' for the pomegranate
logo.
The site started a third page in the last week, attracting over 40,000
followers.
`Facebook is doing censorship'
`In short, what Facebook is doing is censorship: blatantly taking
sides and engaging in digital vandalism,' said Ã-tekilerin Postası.
How do Facebook page owners deal with situations like these?
Ironically, the biggest social media network on the planet with more
than 1 billion members is itself unreachable. Facebook's generic forms
and buttons let you send questions, report violations or ask for
appeals. However, when, or if, you will get an answer is entirely
unknown.
`Who are these people?' asked Ã-tekilerin Postası. `Are they really
impartial? In our opinion, no. It is about people working for Facebook
and investigating reports.'
`This is systematic and deliberate,' Cengiz Algan told the Daily News
seven months ago when his Facebook page, DurDe! (Say Stop), Turkey's
biggest grassroots anti-racist initiative, faced a similar case of
censorship.
Noting that Facebook ignored dozens of pages and posts that overtly
advocated hate speech against Kurds and Armenians, Algan said:
`Facebook needs to reassess its operations in Turkey. There are
obviously racist employees in the team.'
According to a leak from a former employee, Facebook has allegedly
been recruiting low-wage third-world contractors to monitor country
pages and delete certain content with no proper systems of control.
Given that, more censorship seems to be on the horizon for citizen
journalists.
August/05/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/facebook-facing-accusations-of-censoring-citizen-journalism.aspx?pageID=238&nID=51996&NewsCatID=374