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Facebook’s Report Abuse button has become a tool of global oppression [2014 story]
The Verge ^ | Sep 2, 2014 | Russell Brandom

Posted on 03/08/2019 11:28:04 AM PST by BlackAdderess

Tools designed to fight trolls are being used to crack down on dissent

"All the army forces inside and outside the barracks, assemble," the Facebook post reads. "Read our commands carefully before the raid." A few lines later. "Don't comment. Don't curse. Just report them."

It's military talk, but they're not soldiers. It's a Facebook raid, conducted on July 12th against an independent Vietnamese news site called the Khmer Krom News. Below the post, dozens of comments weigh in with support: "Damn them, let’s finish them off," and "I set up dozens of accounts for this =))"

"DON'T COMMENT. DON'T CURSE. JUST REPORT THEM."

The publication had been too critical of the government, it turns out, and even though most of the commenters are civilians, they’re ready to suit up to make sure the paper can’t keep publishing its critical views. The strategy is simple — rack up enough abuse reports to knock the site off Facebook, effectively cutting it off from its audience. It's a surprising tactic, but it works. Vietnamese groups have counted 44 different journalists and activists who have had their accounts taken down in recent months, including countless more publications.

(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: banned; chat; conservatives; facebook; fascistbook; markzuckerberg; oldnews; socialmedia; zuckerberg
I try to maintain friendships across the spectrum in order to avoid getting stuck in a filter bubble. One of my "friends" appears to have been reporting my every post as abuse. I stopped his access to my posts and the reaction was immediate, and may I say, deranged.

Somebody has to report something as abuse in order for people to be banned, and since there is a modus operandi internationally, we should be looking at the groups that are trying to shut down our speech and get us to attack our own tech sector.

1 posted on 03/08/2019 11:28:04 AM PST by BlackAdderess
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To: BlackAdderess
Tools designed to fight trolls

Unfortunately, "trolls" are now defined as anyone who disagrees with you.

2 posted on 03/08/2019 11:32:10 AM PST by humblegunner
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