When the staid and stately BBC starts complaining about content deletions on social media on its own website, you know there’s a problem. According to the BBC, their Ukraine war posts were taken down and then they couldn’t upload, at least on Instagram.
The problems apply to Facebook and YouTube, as well as Instagram. Both AI and human moderators may be involved. The information is as blurry as you’d expect. Every case is a bit different. It’s not that easy to decide what to show and what not to show.
Given the constant complaints about social media disinformation and propaganda bots, it’s not a great look. You’d think these arbitrary decisions would get at least some scrutiny.
To be fair –
- Graphic depictions of some things have been giving social media moderators PTSD for years. It’s pretty obvious that they’re dealing with utter filth.
- It’s truly gruesome. They’re trying to filter out as much of this trash as possible, with good reason.
- That’s the main reason social media isn’t just another version of the porn industry and/or any other toxic stuff you care to name.
- Social media does have a responsibility to manage these issues, and it does, to whatever extent it can.
- Let’s not underestimate the degrees of difficulty in managing footage at the production and publishing ends. Some things really can’t be shown, often for multiple reasons.
…So the arbitrary blocks and standards aren’t totally useless; just incredibly annoying sometimes.
That said, the question of not showing war crimes, sanitized or otherwise, is a very mixed issue. It’s not like you’re going to see war crimes in progress and like it. It can be traumatic. People do have a right NOT to be traumatized, despite right-wing media.
This isn’t really censorship in the conventional sense. It’s a judgment call on what can be shown.
There are a few options for social media:
1.Simply don’t show them as a rule, not a guessing game.
2. Selective edits.
3. “Viewer discretion” notices.
4. A Yes/No process with due notification to posters.
5. Penalties for abuse of rules.
This is where it gets even trickier. Rules can be their own goals. YouTubers in particular have a lot of issues with demonetization and content rules. It’s confusing. The US legal principle of “Fair Use” seems to be more of a raffle in some cases.
When it comes to war crimes and hard facts, however, it’s a totally different ball game. It’s about lots of people dying. This scale of human misery can’t be a non-topic.
A less obvious issue is that the BBC, a global news service, is being vetted by algorithms. That can’t go unchallenged. Where are the lines drawn? News media is doing its job for a nice change, and can’t spread the news?
People literally risk their lives to get this material. There’s nothing more relevant going on in the world today.
I’m not saying there’s a simple answer. There does have to be a fix. …Or these war crimes can be dismissed as “fake news”. We know what happens then.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
