Free speech at Facebook allows holocaust denial, but not breastfeeding
By Sam Chimes
Love it or hate it, the internet has been long been a venue for those with outspoken views to gather, meet and spread their message to other like-minded individuals – with sites as popular as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook as open as any to the public airing of these fundamentalist views.
This has come to light recently, courtesy of Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who has uncovered that while racial hatred bubbles freely below Facebook’s seemingly cheery exterior – photographs of breast-feeding women have been stringently banned, cited as indecent. A definite no-go. A compelling story, especially as Michael has discovered a group of holocaust deniers who have made facebook home for their extremist views – provoking a storm of debate in his comments box.
So what should be done? And in this case are nipples, a more worthy cause of concern than debilitating Jewish abuse? Or should free speech be allowed in, let’s be fair, its spiritual bastion – the internet. Michael’s view is clear “There’s an easy way out of this for Facebook, and it also happens to be the right thing to do. Why in the world must they draw a line in the sand and then stand on the same side as Holocaust deniers is beyond me.”
