Facebook needs moderators, that much is clear. But when moderators step outside the guidelines of the site and block content that shouldn’t have been blocked, a big problem emerges.
Carlotta Trevisan from Turin, Italy posted a photo of two lesbians kissing and this photo of soccer stars soccer stars Ivan Rakitic and Daniel Carrico sharing a celebratory on-field smooch to support International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and some of her Facebook friends were none too pleased.
One called it “disgusting” and another commented “Take it down. I have young children to protect.”
They also flagged the photo as inappropriate, which prompted a Facebook moderator to take a look.
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Carlotta next received an email telling her to remove the image immediately, saying it violated the “community’s standards on nudity and pornography.”
Outraged, she refused to take down the harmless photos and soon her account was deleted.
Facebook is claiming that the incident was a mistake, and that very well may be true.
“In an effort to quickly and efficiently process reports we receive, our community operations team reviews many reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally, we make a mistake and block a piece of content we shouldn’t have. We can understand how people can be frustrated with this when, as in this case, a mistake happens,” a spokesperson from Facebook said.
Mistakes will always happen, but we haven’t ever heard a story of someone’s account accidentally being deleted for posting a photo of a straight couple.
h/t: Gay Star News
claybishop45
If gay men and women want to kiss they can do it behind closed doors, no one wants to see that!!!!!!!! its not appropriate in todays society and not acceptable, God is looking down and just shaking is head in disgust!!!!!!!! keep your PDA to yourselves and not exploit it to the entire world!!!!!!!!!!!!!
artgolden
Sigh…you have much to learn. I suggest you don’t try to speak for the rest of us, as many (hopefully most) don’t share your intolerant views.
GJWeeman
You know claybishop45, we have to see straight people show PDA ALL THE TIME but no one tells them it’s disgusting. I’m tired of feeling like a second class citizen because of who I love. Jesus taught us LOVE not HATE, and accepted ALL people at his table. He hung out with lepers and prostitutes. Have you spoken to God? He told you he’s disgusted?? I doubt it because he’s NOT!! He created us all the way we are and he does not make mistakes. Take your homophobia and your hate and crawl back under the rock that you came from. We are finally getting our EQUAL rights, very slowly, but we are getting there. Get used to it bigot!!!!!!!!
Jaroslaw
@claybishop45: Claybishop – you do realize this is a Gay site? I hope your being sarcastic, but if not why does same sex kissing bother you? Does it bother you more than people being tortured, raped, murdered, drowning, burning up in buildings, being robbed or starving? All of which is routinely shown on television.
davidjohng
@claybishop45:
Hey Clay,
I wonder why you’re trolling on a gay site. Are you a self-hating closet case?
murphy0071
Facebook is no more than a bunch of pigs from Animal Farm. There was no accident. They cancelled the account on purpose and exposed the poster to ridicule. Facebook which allows evangelicals to post every vile comment possible against Gays is just as homophobic. They should be sued for squelching perfectly legal free speech. Talk about Big Brother.
blondeboyz
@claybishop45: Hey sweetie, there is no god or imaginary being sitting up above and waving a magic wand or shaking his stupid head. Belief in some omnipotent thing is the same as believing in Santa Claus. Sure there are tons of stories about him but, just like the bible, they are all made up and written by men.
We are in the 21st century. Join the rest of us. If it offends you then look away and ignore it. Keep your ooga booga religious beliefs and nonsense to yourself. I suppose he shakes his head every time you stuff bacon or shrimp in your mouth too? Or is that no longer behind closed doors?
HONCHOBOY
In response to ‘Claybishop45″ comment: Gay men & women kissing & showing affection for one another in public is very appropriate & is acceptable in todays world of 2014 !!! This is not the 1960’s > times have changed .. I suggest that you be put behind a locked closed door & stay there !!!
Geeker
Pretty soon Facebook will only be used by soccer moms and preteen girls.
niles
come on, people, don’t you know when you are being trolled? Geezus Mary Khrist! Don’t respond to the obvious.
sejjo
@niles: You tell ’em. The oxygen-waster is just trying to start a fire, and they fall for it!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@claybishop45: GO AWAY
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Countdown til Facebroke is as relevant as Friendster……..
10,9,8,7,6………..
Ron Jackson
Just another reason to dumb facebook.
rextrek
claybishop45 – Suck my dyk….you ahole….be-gone
Comixbear
And yet Facebook doesn’t feel that a Facebook page called “Barack Obama Must Die” is against their policies. And on that page is a ‘joke’ about Mario from Mario Bros. being multi-cultural, since he “jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a jew”. I’ve complained about both of these. Gee, those are just fine.
DarkZephyr
Was Claybishop serious? I thought he was being tongue-in-cheek but maybe he was serious. lol
mz.sam
Hey, claybishop45, true that you’re allowed to express your opinions. Another reality: you and other fellow bigots are doomed for a rapid extinction…if not self-implosion for festering all that hatred.
Mezaien
@claybishop45: And for you mother R.E.K.C.U.F. jut to remind you that 1,you are not white 2. you are fucked up Christian. 3. if you want to fuck somebody fuck yourself save the money.
Cam
Facebook claims this is a “Mistake” if that is the case, then why does it keep happening so often?
Bryguyf69
@murphy0071: You can’t sue them for blocking free speech because Facebook is a private company. The First Amendment only applies to government intervention, i.e. that you won’t be arrested for expressing free speech. But even then, the SCOTUS has set limits, i.e. you can’t falsely scream “FIRE!” and you can’t be too loud. And of course, private entities like restaurants, schools, churches and homes all have rules of behavior limiting free speech. HOWEVER, I think you can sue Facebook for violating their own policy of nondiscrimination.
barkomatic
@Cam: Agreed, there have now been several examples of facebook “moderators” taking down pictures of gay people kissing that are non-sexual. I think the company needs to put the moderators through sensitivity training. This was no mistake.
toshafree
@claybishop45: great use of sarcasm And if you weren’t being sarcastic i respect the tolling skills
skyler
Screw Facebook. I deleted my account today. Been thinking of it for 2 years… now, gone. I AM FREE!
Throbert McGee
I’m certainly not gonna discourage people from leaving Facebook — who needs all that time-and-money-wasting Farmville crap? — but reading between the lines, I would guess that Ms. Trevisan’s account was blocked by ITALIAN moderators who administer the ITALIAN version of Facebook at it-it.facebook.com.
I could be mistaken, but I would assume that the different language versions of Facebook are run in a semi-autonomous way, even though they all ultimately belong to the same company. So if you’re an English speaker — or if you speak another language, but mainly use the English-language Facebook service — then boycotting FB won’t necessarily be much help in this case.
damon459
Come on guy’s please don’t feed the trolls it only encourages them.
mikeincleveland
…and on the eighth day, God made exclamation points.
rickhfx
If thine eyes offend thee pluck them out , quote straight from the bible !
jmi2
the real problem is people ‘flagging’ what they consider offensive. they need to get over themselves. i’ve looked for a way to find out who the ‘flagger’ is but haven’t been successful. i’d love to check their pages…
how many idiots ‘flagged’ the Michael Sam’s photo? bet too high to count! yes, a moderator may get it wrong from time to time, but they better moderate their moderators to see if the do things often or with the same consistency.
DuMaurier
God, people, you do know you gave ‘claybishop’ exactly what he wanted, right? As far the Facebook thing goes, the photo clearly does not violate their standards so deleting the poster’s account was obviously a foulup. There have been other, similar cases involving breastfeeding women, one account with a disabled child, on and on. It looks terrible, it’s embarrassing for FB, but under the moderator system it’s going to keep happening, the mistakes will continue to be rectified and an apology issued, and life will go on.
D9W
So Calling the President the N-Word is OK on Facebook, but two guys or ladies kissing Not OK. MY email back on the hate talk against our president because of the color of his skin, Facebooks response- Oh sorry you didn’t like it but were fine with it. Have a nice day. — Did not sit well with me.
sangsue
Yet swastikas are completely seen as A OK to post.
Bryguyf69
@claybishop45: I can only assume that you’re trolling for a reaction or are being sarcastic. Let’s ignore differing opinions for a moment at look at facts. Your claim that “no one wants to see” a gay kiss is demonstrably false.
Do a “gay kiss” search on YouTube and many videos have more than 200,000 views, with some over 1 million views. One, linked below, has more than 3 million views. That’s no one”? Duh.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gay+kiss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZrAqPUykG4
itzallan
@claybishop45: It’s so comforting to know that you are peeking in on your god and reporting to us his every move and thought. That’s so sweet. But I’m still trying to wrap my head around how you know SO much about what everyone on the planet wants, including GOD. That’s so much power to hold in such small hands, wouldn’t you say? A little word of advice here: try giving your god a little more privacy because he must be pissed having so many people reporting to others what he’s doing and thinking every moment of the day.
kmhnova
@claybishop45 — YOU, claybishop45, could NOT be more ignorant! Oh, but considering your comments above, YOU undoubtedly COULD be even more ignorant than you already are. If you are taking your ideology from the Bible — go back to grade-school and do a little bit of studying on it. The Bible does NOT condemn homosexuality — as a matter of fact the word “homosexual” was not coined until the middle of the 1800s, and the word never “appeared” in bibles until the late 1800s — so YOU, or anyone else who claims that the Bible condemns “homosexuality” is blowing smoke up your rear-end (which you, would probably enjoy…. but I digress). What the Bible DOES condemn is abusive and demeaning sexual relations (homo- and hetero-) where one of the people involved is being degraded and dishonored (in accordance with Hebrew traditions and laws), and where the sexual relations involve prostitution (especially in religious settings, and again in accordance with Hebrew traditions and laws…. and again, this applied to both homo- and heterosexual relations). Do you get it, claybishop45? PROBABLY NOT. But, if you have ANY part of your brain that is capable of intelligent thought, you could go do some studying on your own about how the Bible came to be what it is (and says) today, instead of just swallowing the whole “not at all truly Christ-like, lie-filled dogma” that you’ve lapped up like a starving dog returning to its vomit. –> spoiler alert! Whether or not the original words transcribed actually came from God, the Bible that we has largely become the work of men — people largely driven by a felt-need for power and control.
kmhnova
Ok, …so in my zeal I messed up my grammar at the end! Darn it! Intelligent people know what I intended to say, however, for YOU, claybishop45, I intended to complete my words to you with “…the Bible that we have today has largely become the work of men — people largely driven by a felt-need for power and control.”
n1spirit
@claybishop45: What the hell? Why are you even ON this site, Clay? Are you a closet case who has to skulk around gay media websites, yet still cannot come to terms with your same-sex attractions —- or are you one of those hypocritical bible thumpers who’s so quick to point out what he/she believes is wrong with the rest of the world, all the while committing your own crimes and sins in what you mistakenly believe to be “in private”? Trust me, ass-hat; you don’t speak for God and you sure as hell don’t speak for the majority of good people everywhere so get off of your damned soapbox already and shut your mouth.
mezzacanadese
I think Facebook was being a bit disingenuous when it claimed taking down the post was a mistake. I am sorry for the mother who thinks her child seeing gays kissing will traumatize her. As far s I’m concerned, love is love, no matter the sex. As a straight person, I am delighted when my gay friends show signs of affection. Too bad some people are so intolerant.
enlightenone
@Jaroslaw: Two snaps and a circle!
enlightenone
@murphy0071: Your statements may be deserving if they didn’t correct “their mistake!” Did they put it back?
Texasteacher
I teach high school students. They say that Facebook is “over” and that it’s “jank.” In other words, Facebook is no longer relevant. I’m glad that I never “did” Facebook. The 14-18 year-old crowd think that homophobia is just as bad as racism and I don’t argue.
Blackceo
@claybishop45:
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GirlBye2.gif
JoshandCody
@Plays Well with Others:
OMG….I vaguely remember Friendster!!!! Wow, what a PERFECT analogy!
Bigots have always existed and sadly always will. Fortunately younger generations [generally] don’t have the time to “be bothered with” the rhetoric about who people love.
PeterGay
A few days ago I posted this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PeterGay2011/media_set?set=a.10152119968923946.1073741883.654518945&type=1 and nothing bad happened to my information or profile. Knock on wood.
esemple
Same to you sweetheart.
Maude
@artgolden:
Unfortunately her view that same sex kissing “…is disgusting…” is shared by a great many straight people. Even those who proudly declare themselves “tolorent”.
I would point out that I have been “tolerant” when I saw an opposite sex
couple kissing all of my life.
Get used to it.
I have long been ‘out’ to a straight male member of my family by marriage, and he is my best friend as well.
We do not share ‘benefits’.
Just a few months ago, he told he doesn’t mind seeing “a picture of a man sucking another man off”, but “I can’t stand to see two men kissing…especially with tongues”.
Maude
@Blackceo:
Uncouth at best.
Maude
@D9W:
The pres is a whole different subject, lets not go there, because I hate the mudderphucker!.
Maude
@rickhfx:
Any idea what a metaphor is, sheethead?!
Maude
I have an announcement to make:
I AM FOR GAY RIGHTS…BUT ONLY FOR MEN! SO THERE!
drivendervish
@niles: Finally! Someone noticed what was going on. All the angry responses are priceless though!
toberlin
claybishop45 (aka Facebook Moderator) is just another underfuc*ed Freak who feels disturbed by Happy People.I was never a Fan and resigned his Club over 2 years ago
Jinkx Monsoon
“Take it down. I have young children to protect.”
One has to wonder how a single picture will affect her child’s ‘innocent’ mind and well, if her young children are on facebook, then shame on her. bad parenting at it’s finest.
The photo was mild, two men kissing, no tongue, no over the topness that most gay men are accused of being, a simple picture of two men kissing, shame really.
mcflyer54
@claybishop45: Sarcasm right?
JassaSinghKhalsa
@claybishop45: If men and women want to kiss, they can do it behind closed doors, it’s disgusting, no one wants to see that. I have young children to protect. Why should they be exposed to such disgusting behavior???