Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – US non-profit news outlet The Intercept, has published the full list of Facebook’s “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations,” following the social media giant’s repeated refusal to publicly release the list, in spite of its proven existence.
Part of Facebook’s “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy launched in 2018, the list categorizes Facebook users according to their posts, and includes categories such as hate, crime, terrorism, militarized social movements, and violent non-state actors.
The Intercept reported that the blacklist includes over 4,000 names, and “nearly everyone and everything” on the list has been or is considered a threat to the US.
The list revealed Facebook’s routine stigmatization of certain minority and marginalized communities.
The list’s “terrorism” category, accounting for over 50% of the list, disproportionately names Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Muslim groups and individuals within US territory.
There are a majority of Black and Latino names on the list that are classified as “violent criminal enterprises.”
Unsurprisingly, the list demonstrates less restrictive policies for white militias, showing that Facebook offers “an iron fist for some communities and more of a measured hand for others,” a legal scholar told The Intercept.
The news website highlighted both the efficiency and the double standard plaguing Facebook’s list, saying that although it includes “a litany of ISIS commanders and Al Qaeda militants whose danger to others is uncontroversial, it would be difficult to argue that some entries constitute much of a threat to anyone at all.”
The Intercept investigation uses both an “Iranian Tractor Manufacturing Company and the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, a UK-based aid organization,” as prime examples of Facebook’s biais.
As both entities are deemed “too much of a real-world danger for free discussion on Facebook and are filed among Tier 1 terrorist organizations like al-Shabab,” says the report.
Brian Fishman, Facebook’s Policy Director for Counter-Terrorism and Dangerous Organizations, tweeted in response to The Intercept’s story, calling it “misleading” and “superficial.”
Facebook has been enthralled in scandal recently, from frequent malfunctioning servers causing global disruptions, to troubling studies on the platform’s effects on users’ mental health.
The social media monopolist is struggling to keep its momentum in the face of rising social media apps like TikTok and Twitter, who seem to keep gaining in popularity.
