The internet is known for its freedom-generating platforms. But recent petitions to Facebook have them reevaluating the freedoms granted to some users who abuse the platform by presenting hateful rhetoric.
In a post on their blog, Facebook explained their position on the issue of controversial and hateful speech on the internet. While controversial speech may offend some people who read the content, the position of Facebook is not to eliminate such posts. However, hate speech will not be tolerated and will therefore be removed. But there is no universal definition for hate speech.
On their site, Facebook does say that hate speech is any "direct and serious attacks on any protected category of people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or disease." But that still leaves a lot of room for interpretation. At what point does a controversial comment become an attack? A big question is whether offensive jokes fall into that category.
According to The Register, change.org received more than 225,000 signatures on a petition to get Facebook to better monitor and remove offensive language, including some jokes. The article sees Facebook's blog response as a step towards success, emphasizing the social media site's promise to bolster their efforts in finding and scrubbing away hateful humor or speech.