In late October, Facebook had finally taken down a beheading video of a woman in mexico. The graphic video had been circling around for months and instigated a public uproar. Facebook was heavily criticized for not taking down the video. To make matters even worse, news reached the public that Facebook was lifting a ban on images of graphic violence imposed in May. The defense given by Facebook was that they were allowing graphic images to promote awareness rather than celebration and stood firm on their ground.

Facebook uses IT and information systems to bring users of the site content that they want. In this case it seems graphic images are not what the majority of people would like to see. From my point of view it is more than justified for them to remove the video. On a blog I read by Ashley Feinberg, she mentions the family aspect and age restrictions of Facebook’s action. I completely agree on this matter, I could not imagine myself as an 11 or 12 year old and being exposed to these graphic images. It would scar me for life. I am anxious to see when Facebook will ban images of graphic violence for good.

Articles:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/23/facebook-removes-beheading-video

Images:

http://www.ijreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Facebook-thumbs-down.png