I Was Suspended from Facebook for My #MeToo Post | Hacker News Reader

I Was Suspended from Facebook for My #MeToo Post

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28 pointsritchiea27 comments

I think Facebook automatically detected the photo as being sexually explicit and possibly harassing, so it flagged the account automatically (I would guess the ML algorithms were trained on photos like that). At least it was brought back quickly, although the process for appeal should be easier in cases like this (someone from Facebook, can you comment on how easy the process is?).

A similar thing happened when my friend when he outed a person who sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend a few years ago, and the post (which got flagged most likely due to heated discussion about the accused person) was flagged and removed automatically. My friend seemed to not know how to bring it back, so I guess the process for appeal is vague or not easy.

It should be painfully obvious why she was she was suspended for posting that stuff.

It isn't to me.

Could you please elaborate?

Photos of genitalia are typically grounds for deletion/suspension in most social circles.

It depends very much on context, doesn't it? There are probably not many social circles suspending you for photos like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc (or those in the OP's article)

Facebook did, last year, before also reversing that decision. Figuring out the context can take s bit of time.

Facebook doesn't wasn't dongs in people's feeds. Scroll, scroll, penis.

Facebook's content policies are best understood as "don't rock the boat". It operates on reports, ML and hired minders with more backlog than time for context.

Their Amero-centric policies on nudity should be seen as prima facie evidence of that. They don't even want to bury NSFW behind a Twitter-style "click here if not at work" button, they scrub it from the platform.

There is no room for context and exceptions. They always err on the side of removal until you can convince someone with a well-paying job at facebook that not only was the removal arguable, but an on-the-face embarrassment for facebook to have removed.

White woman singles out black guys as sex-crazed maniacs? She might as well have gone full 14 words as far as Facebook's moderation bots are concerned.

Of course you and I know that's not really what her post was about, but Silicon Valley being so heavily invested in BLM and associated movements really can't take any chances. And with the volume of traffic manually reviewing these things and applying some common sense just isn't an option.

This is a little bit of a non-issue at the moment. Facebook restored her photos, but there might have just been the algorithm mistake that happens often.

"The algorithm" should never be an excuse. There are many real people on many levels of responsibility behind "the algorithm". Facebook restored it only because the story gained a traction (it is even on HN, right?). What is the rate between restored and not-restored in such cases if the story is not as prominent as this one?

Come on I can't even view this stuff at work. Put a NSFW warning on it or something.

She posted pictures of nudity. I read this at work. Warning, dick pic inside!

This should be higher. Maybe we can get a NSFW tag on the title?

TW: It only matter if it hurts your feelings, not your professional life.

Start drafting your Medium piece talking about getting fired for supporting the #MeToo movement.

Seriously, I don't think any reasonable employer is going to take any action against someone viewing this. PR nightmare.

If someone walks by my desk and sees a picture of a dick, they have no idea that I'm reading about the Me Too movement. All they see is dick. And they don't confront me about it, they quietly say to their manager, "hey, this guy was looking at dicks on his work computer and I saw it, I feel sexually harassed". Boom. Instantly fired.

Humanities major is "traumatized" by getting temporarily banned from Facebook for posting artsy dick pics.

I don't really like facebook, but the two reactions (putting it down and putting it up again) were appropriate. The first one show that the algorithm do its job, the second show that a human factor still exist. However i agree with the poster: if facebook do not put a mean to reach out in the put-down email, this is a mistake that should be fixed.

The algorithm could flag it for human review instead of deleting it automatically, though.

Of course she was suspended, taking justice into your own hands is never okay (unless you are defending yourself in the moment). She becomes judge, jury and executioner in the moment she shares those pictures online.

You could take this argument and say that women shouldn't directly say that they were raped because it's taking justice into their own hands (by telling others about the misdeed rather than letting it happen in a court). The reason she was suspended was not because she "took justice into her own hands," it was because the photo was explicit and an algorithm automatically suspended the account.

No you can't. There is very fine silver lining between the two. She should have blurred out the face of the man as it can have very serious consequences(perhaps not in this case). I'm not condoning his actions but his trial should be through legal means and not a possible public lynching.

It's the same as taking a photo of someone on the street in general, except this time the man flashed her. Would you say the same for someone who takes a photo with a clear face of someone on a food stand? Plus, it was 30 years ago, not yesterday, so it would be beyond the statue of limitations anyway.

If you come and kick me in the face, and I shoot a photo of you, I can't post it, because you'd be wronged?

Seriously?

The way things are going, you know that argument is coming next.

executioner? with a 30 year old picture with no name?

as I understand it, the account was suspended because too many people try to use facebook as a harassing platform.

is facebook overzealous in taking down harassing images? it means that the problem is really serious.

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