Facebook is cracking down on enforcing its terms of service by deleting popular groups and pages.
The social media giant is shutting down groups that related to tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. Any group that helps facilitate the private sale between members of any of these products faces the prospect of being deleted.
The extremely popular Cigar Cartel was among the casualties along with several other cigar groups.
The company has also banned private sale of guns in groups and encourages users to report any transactions that are taking place within groups or within Facebook Messenger.
This doesn’t just apply to groups focused on firearms. If you belong to a community garage sale group or trading group, your group could face deletion if a member decides to privately sell a firearm, cigars or alcohol of any kind.
Other activities forbidden by Facebook include mult-level marketing of any kind, bullying, posting what Facebook defines as “hate-speech,” (though they don’t actually have any explanation as to exactly what that might be), posting adult content without age restrictions, and interfering with the intellectual property of others.
To show they’re serious about the intellectual property thing, Facebook recently shut down the page for The Shade Room, a very popular celebrity gossip site with millions of followers for allegedly violating copyrights. The site relied heavily on screengrabs from celebrity social media accounts.
Again, even if you’re not running a cigar or gun group or a celebrity gossip page, if you try to privately sell any of these items using Facebook or Messenger, you could lose your account or see a group you belong to deleted. The same goes for using other people’s copyrighted material. So be careful what you post.
What do you think about Facebook crack down? Are they trying to keep us safe or are they playing nanny? Let us know in the comments.
~ Cynthia
I like that Facebook is doing its part to try to keep us safe. Keeping guns out of the wrong hands is very difficult to do when an unregistered gun can be had via Facebook. Bravo Facebook.
FaceBook is starting to be a big joke,i had to cancel my first profile because they said i had posted a porn picture which was a lie. so i had to open another profile with a different e-mail,so i lost all my pictures i had in there and lost all my friends i had playing in alot of games.i reported 2 or 3 for posting porn on my feeds and favebook said it wasnt breaking any of their rules. but i wish i knew the guy i would go get in his face and tell him just what i think of him.
Hey Cynthia, As a business decision, Facebook is well within its ‘Rights’ to illicit or restrict whatever content it wishes. Facebook though not well known as a sales platform, it would appear commerce does take place. WorldStart for one, advertises and does commercial sales thru FB, one would hope they are as restrictive of other criminal activity I.E.; gang, flash mob, ISIS rhetoric etc. FB already treats all photographs as proprietary, can’t copy anything to Pinterest, for example… Good thread.
If Facebook is deleting them, it means that fb has a plan for making money and doesn’t want competition
Yes, Nanny.
First, let me preface my remarks by saying social media apps like Facebook take up an inordinate proportion of many of its devotees time and attention. Far too many people are enthralled with providing the world with their lives trivial details, and this keeps many users internet addictions well fed, to their detriment. So many people are neglecting real world social interaction in favor of building themselves a virtual and largely fictitious shell within which they wish the world will view them, through the distorted lens of an artificial persona, which could be construed as a form of self indulgent abuse of the internet as a resource.
That being said, while I disagree with the practice of censorship of user submitted data, except in cases where real physical harm is the result, or when a it is a case of clearly criminal behavior that makes the content objectionable and there is demonstrable linkage to a criminal act against a person or persons, that sort of content should be a violation of the site terms of use agreement. In such cases I am in favor of not only deleting the account, but referring the account holder to law enforcement for arrest and prosecution.
What Facebook is doing is making moral judgement based in emotional and political correctness, without any other substantial cause or justification. The administration of Facebook is using their personal beliefs to suppress those of others, and that is contrary to free speech and The Constitution. Facebook is of course not bound to conduct their business as they see fit, but the political agenda of Mr. Zuckerberg and his company is being clearly put on display.
Personally, I prefer not to be a Facetwit user, preferring instead to participate in life and have real relationships with real people in the real world, despite the perils and flaws inherent in reality versus the fake virtual world.
Unwanted Nanny
F FB
And yet FaceBook tells me that the F. word in postings does not violate their “Community Standards. What is wrong with these people?
Well I quit Drinking back in 2003, & quit smoking on New Year’s Day 2007.
Guns I’ll never give up ‼️
I think FB is just trying to protect its minors & some adults from themselves , & I applaud their efforts..
I appreciate what Facebook is doing. Thank you, Facebook!
I agree with Bill Tilgman (hope I spelled it right). Mr Zuckerberg et al. is known for his ultra-liberal, political correctness and is not only against guns but those of us who believe in the U.S. Constitution, the American flag, and the rule of law. Mr. Zuckerberg doesn’t believe in securing our borders, for example, and he or his employees have not only censored certain groups who stand for legal immigration and enforcing our borders but has also gone so far as to delete the pages entirely. He is, of course, within his rights to do so since it is his business but he is certainly not looking after his customers. He wants to promote the nanny state and is starting with his own company. I also agree that FB is a serious time-waster and I generally limit myself to one hour a week there.
Outstanding information, Cynthia, as usual….and Facebook seems to be “growing up” like the rest of us in handling its business….Kudos to you and Facebook…..