Facebook bans images of racist stereotypes
FACEBOOK and Instagram have banned images of blackface and content that depicts Jewish people controlling the world as part of a global crackdown on harmful stereotypes.
The social media giant said it would remove all “implicit” hate speech used to “disparage, intimidate or exclude” people based on their race or religion, as well as more explicit attacks.
The ban, which comes into force later this month, will apply to “caricatures of black people” that make use of blackface, as well as content that describes Jewish people “controlling major institutions such as media networks, the economy or the government”.
But the announcement caused a furore in Holland, where Facebook will remove pictures of the controversial Christmas folk character “Black Pete”.
The company is still deciding how its new rules will apply to English Morris dancers who traditionally black their faces – although the practice has been outlawed by Britain’s biggest Morris organisation.
The Facebook ban came amid a sharp rise in dangerous coronavirus misinformation such as hoax cures and spurious health advice, with the company removing seven million pieces of content between April and June, compared with just “hundreds of thousands” between January and March.
Executives also admitted that the social media giant had failed to catch a huge amount of suicide and self-harm content due to the effect of the pandemic on its moderation workforce, with just 911,000 instances removed compared with 1.4 million at the start of the year.
Facebook said: “While our hate speech policies apply equally to all people, we recognise that statements about specific groups may pose unique harm because of the way they’ve historically been used to attack, intimidate or exclude. In this vein, we are strengthening our policies.”
It said that blackface and anti-semitic conspiracy theories were among the most “clearly defined” examples, describing the former as “part of a history of dehumanisation, denied citizenship and efforts to excuse and justify state violence”.
The company’s Dutch announcement further explained that it was banning many traditional “Black Pete” images because they “make people feel unsafe in the public domain and can discourage participation”.
The character, who is usually, but not always, depicted with a blacked face, has been increasingly controversial. Public support has recently fallen amid Black Lives Matter protests in Holland.
Monika Bickert, Facebook’s rulemaker-in-chief, said that Facebook was still considering how to deal with images of blackface that were not posted for “hateful reasons”, including pictures of Morris dancers.