Facebook’s Censorship and How it Influences Our Stories

Facebook’s Censorship and How it Influences Our Stories

Facebook’s mission statement is to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together,” (Smithson, N., 2019), however, we can see many instances of censorship, from the users and Facebook itself, that disrupts this statement.

Figure 1. Facebook Censorship Appeal. ANH International, (2019).

Through Facebook we can learn how cybernetic structures change the stories we tell, and the way we tell them. There is a false dichotomy between ‘narrative’ and ‘communication’ in the same way that the boundaries of fiction and non-fiction are more complex than we think.

This digital age complicates the way we define self and its boundaries, (McNeill, L., 2012),

as many of us form a hive mind through social media. Facebook has become a ritualised part of the day, creating a human-machine interface, as described in this week’s reading by McNeill. Facebook allows for “everyday autobiography,” while also changing the way people tell these stories. Like a virus, Facebook infects its users, with how it promotes “life by example,” (McNeill, L., 2012), influencing people who see their friends exercising/cooking/playing. By seeing praise that they get for these things or the interest they cultivate by these posts it influences others to create similar posts to gain similar results.

These stories though are manufactured largely, through users’ fostered need (by Facebook) for self-surveillance and self-improvement for the gratification of others. Along with this, Facebook’s algorithms act as hidden shadow biographers which tell users about themselves, while telling Facebook and advertisers about the users, (McNeill, L., 2012). People should give more consideration to how they interact with cybernetic structures because their inherent mutual and coercive production of networked lives.

Despite beginning as a platform intended to connect people, Facebook has become a rich information source. The digital age is led by the exchange of information, where people spread and read news globally. One of the main uses of Facebook is to acquire information. If this is a primary use, then the restriction of information can be made problematic. Either due to direct censorship by Facebook, of content breaching their guidelines such as graphic violence or sexual content—or self-censorship due to societal pressure, as you would not post certain things because of the fear of how others will react. Users only show the idealised version of themselves which they believe others will react the most positively to, hiding unpopular opinions, boring aspects and bad photos, etc.

Censorship is a violation of freedom of speech and acts in opposition to the “overall spirit of the web 2.0 as an environment of interpersonal information exchange” (Kaspar, K. & Müller-Jensen, M. Curr Psychol 2019). While censoring harmful content of hate speech, pornography, and violence can easily be necessary; the control of information within one of the primary sources of online information can be a very dangerous thing.

In conclusion, Facebook influences the way we tell our stories and share our experiences in a cybernetic structure through censorship and the nature of self-censoring which they cultivate within their users. These stories subsequently become artificial and manufactured, in the guise of self-improvement but led by the gratification of others.

References:

ANH International, (2019). Facebook Censorship Appeal [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.anhinternational.org/news/our-facebook-censorship-appeal-to-you/

Kaspar, K. & Müller-Jensen, M. Curr Psychol (2019). Current Psychology (iss. 1), pg. 1-12. https://doi-org.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/10.1007/s12144-019-00316-8

McNeill, L., (2012).  Biography 35, (iss. 1), pg. 65-82. 10.1353/bio.2012.0009

Smithson, N. (2019). Facebook Inc.’s Mission Statement & Vision Statement (An Analysis). Retrieved from http://panmore.com/facebook-inc-vision-statement-mission-statement

Zuckerberg, M. (2004). Facebook. Retrieved from https://facebook.com