Internal emails obtained by ProPublica revealed that the Facebook decided to comply with an order from the Turkish government and censor the page of the paramilitary group Kurdish minority People's Protection Unit (YPG) in 2018. The order came during the Afrin offensive, where the Turkish army aimed to expel Kurdish minorities from northern Syria, and censorship continues to this day. The Turkish government considers the YPG a terrorist organization, but the American government and Facebook itself does not; otherwise, the censorship of the page by the site's Community Standards would be valid.
According to the emails, a monitoring team learned of the situation in the country and alerted the company’s vice president of global public policy, Joel Kaplan. “We are in favor of geoblocking YPG content [in Turkey] if the prospect of a shutdown [of Facebook’s website in the country] is high,” the monitors wrote. “But blocking the YPG has its risks,” they added. “Activists outside of Turkey will likely notice our actions, and our decision could draw unwanted attention to our geoblocking policy.”
Kaplan then wrote to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying he agreed with the recommendation. After a brief discussion, Sandberg responded with, “I’m fine with that.” In a statement to ProPublica, the YPG said, “We use social media to promote our fight against jihadists and other extremists who have attacked or are attacking Syrian Kurds and northern Syria.” The group added that censorship of its minority on Facebook and other social media platforms occurs “at an extreme level.”
On the issue, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone told ProPublica: “We strive to preserve the voices of as many people as possible. But there are times when we restrict content based on local law, even if it doesn’t violate our Community Standards.” In a statement, recent post about Turkey On its blog, Facebook said: “We believe that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and we work hard to protect and defend these values around the world.”
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Engadget
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