[View the story "Facebook censors Arab women" on Storify ]Facebook censors Arab women Controversial ban rouses anger and questioning from web users. Storified by The Stream · Tue, Nov 13 2012 16:45:45
On October 26, following the initial removal of Bakdounes' photo, administrators of the Uprising of Women in the Arab World page shared this message with their more than 66,000 subscribers:
Read this article for the full story and for ...Facebook
Netizens responded on Twitter and Facebook in support of Bakdounes. One woman, Fatma, shared this image with Uprising of Women:
Fbcdn
Dear Facebook If a photo of a woman removing her veil and saying that she wants to feel the air on her hair and body gets removed, you better stop giving yourself credit for the Arab spring.The Arab Spring: Arab women's revolution as regulated by Facebook
According to a press release from the Uprising of Women group, the page administrators attempted to upload another version of Bakdounes' photo, only to have it removed hours later. Additionally, Facebook banned one administrator from the site for seven days. Without notification or explanation, Facebook restored one photo of Bakdounes on October 31.
On November 7, the page's five administrators each received separate notifications of misconduct from Facebook, again citing a violation of community standards. According to a press release from the group:
one’s account has been blocked for 30 days, another for 3 days, 2 others for 24 hours, and 1 other received a warning notification.Press Release: Facebook attempts to shut down the voice of The Uprising of Women in the Arab World (7 Nov 2012)
According to Facebook, those persons had violated its policy by sharing a post asking for supporting Dana Bakdounes on Twitter.Press Release: Facebook attempts to shut down the voice of The Uprising of Women in the Arab World (7 Nov 2012)
The releases (in
English ,
Arabic , and
French ) also detailed previous removal of content and bans from Facebook officials. Together, they received over 1,200 collective shares on Facebook. An online
protest in solidarity with the group garnered more than 2,000 supporters on Facebook.
The reason for the original removal of the photos from the group page is unclear. Some, including the page's administrators,
claim Facebook users reported the material as offensive and "insulting".
Facebook-there must be someone here from FB-what's "nudity" about this pic & why suspend @uprisingofarabwomen admins? http://pic.twitter.com/i4IOLXQ4Mona Eltahawy
However, a Facebook spokesperson
told the Daily Dot otherwise:
Facebook confirmed that a user was mistakenly suspended for posting an image showing personal identification, since users aren't allowed to post others' personal documents. It was later determined that the person in the photo uploaded it to Facebook themself. Facebook then lifted the block on the account.Daily Dot | Is Facebook censoring the Uprising of Women in the Arab World?
The spokesperson continued to say that other material from The Uprising of Women page had indeed been suspended for community standard violations:
"Facebook has responded to two reports concerning this page – both relating to posted items," a Facebook spokesman told the Daily Dot. "In one instance a photograph was removed in error, but later reinstated. The person who posted it was informed and their temporary block lifted. In the second instance an item was removed because it was reported to us and found to have violated our community standards."Daily Dot | Is Facebook censoring the Uprising of Women in the Arab World?
The page's administrators responded via two separate Facebook posts on November 8:
Someone from Facebook may have spoken to Daily Dot. However, WE repeat again that NO ONE from #FACEBOOK has contacted any of the Admins to explain any sort of BAN or removal.The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي
In both cases Facebook removed the same item, Dana's photo, once claiming it was an ERROR and once a VIOLATION! Now what Facebook? When are you going to Reply?The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي
As of November 9, both photos of Bakdounes have been reinstated on the group's Facebook page. However, bans on the administrators have not been lifted.
3 - They never did lift the ban on ANY of the admin's accounts. The first time one admin was banned for 24 hrs and the pic she posted was never restored. The second time another admin was banned for 7 days, until Nov 5. Even though FB had restored the pic she posted on Oct 30, they didn't lift the ban on her account. And the 3rd time, yesterday, all 5 admins received warnings and/or blockades of their accounts for NO reason whatsoever.The uprising of women in the Arab world انتفاضة المرأة في العالم العربي
On the protest page, individual administrators shared personal updates regarding their ban and communication with Facebook.
Yalda Younes writes:
My account seems to be working again after FB has blocked it on Nov 7, supposedly for 30 days. It was also previously blocked from Oct 28 til Nov 5. FB has given us no explanation nor response whatsoever about this circus. So my guess is that they only re-established our accounts thanks to public/media pressure. Thank you all for standing together for freedom of speech.Online protest in solidarity with "the Uprising of Women in the Arab World" & its administrators
Good morning uprising women and men, I'm back to Facebook after a 24 hour ban with Sally Zohney today, but Diala Haidar is still banned for another 2 days and Yalda Younes is still banned for a whole MONTH Facebook continues to ignore our emails and questions regarding the banOnline protest in solidarity with "the Uprising of Women in the Arab World" & its administrators
As of Tuesday, the story was top on the social news forum Reddit's
"worldnews" subreddit with nearly 3,000 'upvotes' at time of publication:
Reddit.com/r/worldnewsAJstream
The story has many questioning the role of Facebook in moderating content on its pages:
I don't think you have this quite right. I reported a group called "It's not rape, its free sex" multiple times, and its still up.hwisprian comments on With more than 50,000 supporters, “The uprising of women in the Arab world" facebook group is being blocked by Facebook, over a picture of a woman not wearing a veil.
On the reader-created online magazine Elephant Journal, columnist Trista Hendren writes:
It is difficult to understand what Facebook’s policies are exactly; it seems that the blocking has something to do with Facebook users reporting something they find offensive. While this can be helpful in some ways, the rules don’t seem to apply the same way towards all pagesDoes Facebook Hate All Women—or just Feminists? | elephant journal
A
post on the Lebanese blog Qaph asks what the ban means for The Uprising of Women's goals:
This puts the whole Uprising in front of a new challenge: instead of struggling to make real achievements on the level of juridical system, civil rights and social equality, the attacks on the Facebook page moved the battle to a virtual field. It is now more a battle for the right to exist rather than a battle to achieve legal rights.The Uprising of Women in the Arab World: A Challenge to Exist « Qaph
According to NOW Lebanon, The Uprising of Women is working to launch a blog in order to post future online content.
