Facebook Slammed For Censoring Content From Auschwitz Museum

Facebook often angers users with its content moderation practices, but the social media giant rarely screws up as badly as it did this week. According to the Auschwitz Museum, some of its posts on the platform commemorating the victims of the Nazi concentration camp were flagged for violating Facebook’s community standards, including bans on “bullying and harassment” and “sexual solicitation.”

The museum immediately blasted Facebook for this action, declaring it “offensive to the memory of the victims of Auschwitz” and “hurtful to survivors, descendants, and all those committed to preserving historical truth.” The museum also said that, despite immediately appealing the content ban, only a handful of posts were reinstated.

“The rationale provided by the Facebook system, claiming that these posts resemble content that violates Community Standards, is utterly confounding,” the Auschwitz Museum posted on X. “For years, the Auschwitz Memorial has been sharing similar content without any issues, yet suddenly, 21 posts are simultaneously flagged. This raises serious doubts about the efficacy and accuracy of your content moderation technology.”

After this heavy criticism, Facebook acted quickly to reinstate the content while apologizing profusely for the error. However, the damage has likely been done for a company that already has such severe issues with public trust.




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