Free Speech

Facebook revealed there was a 56 percent increase in the number of posts removed for violating the site’s “hate speech” rule. Facebook’s Community standards Enforcement Preliminary Report showed that between October and December 2017, it “took action” against 1.6 million pieces of content for violating the site’s Community Standards rule against hate speech.

Twitter announced on Tuesday it will institute a new policy to crackdown on how visible allegedly bad tweets are on the site. Users who are believed to be engaging in “troll-like” behavior will be corralled into a “[s]how more replies” section while users deemed to be contributing to “healthy” conversations will be unaffected.

A Twitter spokesperson defended Hamas’ ability to maintain a presence on the site, despite Twitter’s rule against supporting and perpetuating violence. According to the spokesperson, the group’s alleged commitment to peace and status as a democratically-elected organization exempts Hamas from the explicit rule banning terrorist organizations from the platform.

Apple CEO Tim Cook used his commencement address at Duke University Sunday to grandstand for an array of liberal causes, including climate change, gun control, immigration, and the #MeToo movement.

Google released a new plain language version of its Privacy Policy on Friday in order to comply with European privacy laws.  

Music streaming service Spotify has removed two artists from its official playlists and recommendations in light of the site’s new policy against “Hate Content & Hateful Conduct.”

Following Facebook’s lead, Google announced that it is banning all advertisements relating to the Ireland’s upcoming abortion referendum.  

Several digital rights organizations have banded together to urge social media sites to be more transparent. The Electronic Freedom Frontier (EFF), the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and other groups produced detailed guidelines for companies like Facebook and Twitter.  

Facebook has started banning foreign advertisements related to Ireland’s referendum on its Eighth Amendment, the constitutional amendment that bans abortion in the country.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is reportedly the latest organization to lose its ability to raise money through Amazon due to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) anti-conservative mission.  

A new Instagram filter will reportedly help crack down on bullying on the site by flagging words reportedly associated with behavior.

Facebook is apparently testing out a new feature that appeared to allow posters to report content as hate speech. On Tuesday afternoon, Facebook users saw an option to report every post in their feeds for “hate speech,” regardless of the context. Posts about food, cats, and even news links all had the option to report them for containing hate speech.

Facebook will be bringing in an adviser to address concerns about anti-conservative bias on the platform. Axios reported on Wednesday that Facebook will be bringing in an advisory team led by former Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl to tackle the issue of bias against conservatives. Kyl’s law firm, Covington and Burling, will allegedly be discussing the issue with conservative groups “directly”…

Managers at Google are allegedly not allowed to congratulate employees for behaviors that support the “U.S. White/male dominant culture.”