Dear Ebele & FB team,
Once again thanks for the prompt response.
Am sure Mercy and team are following the conversation though I got a vacation/traveling responder from her email. For the benefit of Listers here who could be having similar concerns, could we keep the conversation here?
I appreciate your response vis a vis difficulty moderating global cultural attitudes towards skin, genitalia and nudity as well as need to protect children. However, surely the three images I attach here again for your benefit do not fit in that mould?
I would really appreciate your advice on what is considered offensive in these three images, especially considering someone in my FB Community could have reported them. It will also be useful in guiding my own self moderation.
Warm regards,
Edwin Kiama
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!
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Social Innovator, Social Justice Entrepreneur, Catalyst, Human Rights Defender, Social Accountability Champion, Rhize Coach
#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion
The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)
Ordinary, Fearless Kenyans.
Sauti Ya Wanjiku Social Movement www.sautiyawanjiku.com
https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya
https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts
http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead
On Mon, 6 May 2019, 08:53 Ebele Okobi, <ebeleokobi@fb.com> wrote:
Mercy and George are the right contacts, and you can engage directly, w/out posting your account details to KICTAnet. She will need the link to the specific pieces of content you are addressing, as well.
Mercy and Fadzai can explain in more detail, but it is highly unlikely that most of the content you are describing was removed as a result of algorithms. The most likely scenario is that it was reported by a member of your own Facebook community. It was then reviewed by one of our human reviewers, and if the content was fully frontal nudity, was removed as being against policy. We continue to grapple with how to craft and implement global policies that address the most harm while allowing the most speech. As a result of significant risk related to child exploitation content and consent, our rules currently do not allow for images of children’s genitalia. I am a mother, of African children. I recognize that my cute picture of my son in the bath is not child exploitation content, but unfortunately, at scale it is very difficult to apply a rule that recognizes that nuance, and which would leave up my cute naked African child and take down that same cute African child in an account that, for ex, collects images of those cute naked children w/out the consent of their parents and posts them on a page for the review of less benign viewers. Note that this is not actually an “African” problem (many Danish and French and Bangladeshi and Fijian mothers/cultures also want to post pictures of naked children) , and also note the implications of allowing only African children to be depicted nude on our platforms while taking down pictures of European children.
We have often hosted “ask me anything” and similar events discussing our content policies. They are useful for helping to give an understanding of the amount of thought that goes into creating and enforcing. It’s impossible for these global rules to be perfect, and feedback is welcomed, but it’s also most useful with an understanding of the context in which they were created. Mercy would be delighted to explore whether another one for this community would be of interest.
In the meantime, these articles are illuminating-there might be a paywall-alas, nothing I can do about that.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/27/world/facebook-moderators.html
Best, Ebele
From: Mutemi wa Kiama <eddiekiama@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, May 5, 2019 at 9:35 AM
To: Ebele Okobi <ebeleokobi@fb.com>
Cc: Mercy Ndegwa <shikondegwa@fb.com>, George Owuor <gowuor@fb.com>, KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>, Fadzai Madzingira <fmadzingira@fb.com>
Subject: Re: Facebook "Community Standards£.
Thank you Ebele for your quick response. Here is a link to the profile: https://www.facebook.com/MutemiWaKiama
Additionally, the FB algorithms also seem no to recognise that some African nudity is not culturally "inappropriate", eg young boys swimming in a river, or the two children I have attached in the original email.
Warm regards,
Edwin Kiama
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!
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Social Innovator, Social Justice Entrepreneur, Catalyst, Human Rights Defender, Social Accountability Champion, Rhize Coach
#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion
The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)
Ordinary, Fearless Kenyans.
Sauti Ya Wanjiku Social Movement www.sautiyawanjiku.com
https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya
https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts
http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead
On Sat, 4 May 2019, 21:33 Ebele Okobi, <ebeleokobi@fb.com> wrote:
If you have a question about Facebook, you may always contact us directly. I have cc’ed Mercy Ndegwa (Head of Policy for East Africa) and George Owuor (Policy Manager for East Africa) for follow up.
Please send them the link to the account from which content was actionned so that they can escalate. You may need to wait until the work week to hear back, unless this is an emergency involving threat to life or similarly grave circumstances.
The relevance of Cambridge Analytica in this context is unclear, but I trust you will discuss in detail with my team.
Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention.
Best,
Ebele
ebele okobi
public policy director | africa, the middle east & turkey
facebook inc.
On May 4, 2019, at 7:22 PM, Mutemi wa Kiama <eddiekiama@gmail.com> wrote:According to Facebook these posts go against "Community Standards"!
Why, because they're critical of GoK and it's leadership, advocate for African wokeness, or the kids are in ethnic attire?
Whose Community Standards and on what basis? Facebook has taken most of them down today. Could someone please make me understand!
Or has Cambridge Analytica taken over Facebook? This is censorship in my book!
Warm regards,
Edwin Kiama
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!
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Social Innovator, Social Justice Entrepreneur, Catalyst, Human Rights Defender, Social Accountability Champion, Rhize Coach
#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion
The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)
Ordinary, Fearless Kenyans.
Sauti Ya Wanjiku Social Movement www.sautiyawanjiku.com
https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya
https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts
http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead<Screenshot_20190504-191325_1.jpg>
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