Internet hate speech...

6/5/2013

This past week Facebook made the decision to restrict hate speech which glorified violence against women. In addition, Facebook also further restricted speech attacking race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.

In an editorial published in the New York Times on May 31, Facebook executives claimed that individual posts by users will not be monitored or censored, just ‘group pages’ which focus on sexist, misogynist, or racist subjects. Facebook has long had a ‘report’ feature which allows users to report offensive posts by individual users, however Facebook rarely removes such posts claiming that doing so would violate the First Amendment.

First Amendment rights are at the center of this debate as the internet has enabled people to share, post, and spread hateful speech. According to Abraham Foxman, hate pollutes the internet environment as there are thousands of websites devoted to some form of hate… but are these site breaking the law?

As a society we must decide if such speech, though offensive, breaks the law or if it is protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment is not meant only for those who express views with which you agree, it is intended to protect the freedom of expression of all Americans. That being said, there are some limits to the Amendment, and the issue here is whether or not Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites have, or at least should have the ability to censure offensive, potentially dangerous hate speech.

Thoughts?

Danika Wayss Period 6

6/5/2013 12:19:16 am

I think it is a good idea for facebook to take action against online hate speech on their website. Who knows..... maybe it could stop actions that would lead to violence before it happens. I think its very possible. There was really no point in having a "report" feature if facebook was not planning on taking any action against the comments that were bing reported on the website.

Christian Gamez Period 5

6/5/2013 05:09:59 am

I feel that this goes against our freedom of speech completely. I am not saying that I support these people of hate speeches but everyone's opinion is different. Just because an individual says something online as an opinion, if many do not agree with it should it be taken down? No. They are not forcing this on you so it should cause no harm, ignore it and continue scrolling.

Mackenzie Egan Period 6

6/5/2013 05:37:52 am

I find it good how facebook has banned speech against woman, and about violent and etc. But, this does go against our freedom of speech, but that's not such a bad thing. People not being allowed to say rude things is more than okay, but it is what they thing and they have the freedom to do so...

Austin Period 1

6/5/2013 06:34:13 am

I believe that if the post in some way could hurt someone or start a huge problem then it should definetly be removed from the site but if it is a minor issue that many people will notice then why not leave it up.

Ethan Schneider period 1

6/5/2013 10:30:34 am

I don't think there should of been sayings bad about women. But I mean people saying bad things on facebook, just delete your facebook so you cant see it!? Even though it is really rude to say rude things you don't have to read them.

Ethan Miller Period 6

6/5/2013 08:41:20 pm

I think it is inevitable that hate speeches and hate crimes will occur. They occur every single day, but not just on Facebook. Yes, I think it's great that Facebook is finally taking action, but what about the various hate crimes against women, gays, violence that happen everyday, everywhere? Who's stopping those?

Brandon Lawton Period 6

6/5/2013 09:46:06 pm

I think it would be better if these hate comments were monitored and did not occur, but I think that social media is still a form of speech and would fall under the First Amendment. It is no different than a newsaper or online blog, so people have the right to express their opinions on social media. It's not a good thing that people are hateful on social media, nor do I want it to happen, but I think the right should be given to people.

Daniel Peladeau Period 6

6/5/2013 09:48:05 pm

Even if Facebook gets rid of these hateful messages, the people that posted the message will find some other way to get their beliefs out on to the internet. Facebook is a great place to spread great messages but sometimes people abuse this power and make the internet worse for everyone else. If you really don't believe that people should be able to spread their hateful ideas, then you should find another social media site that is more strict about what you post.

Julia Period 6

6/5/2013 09:50:03 pm

I think that its great that Facebook is finally doing something about all of the hate that is said on there. But I don't think it will totally get rid of the hate crimes that will happen away from social media sites. People say hateful things everyday. Im glad that are protecting women from hate crime on Facebook. I feel like this does kind of go against the first amendment but people should not use their words to hurt people.

Sophie Period 6

6/5/2013 09:54:31 pm

Hate crimes occur in a lot of other places besides Facebook. The hate against people who have different sexualities occur everyday and everywhere around the world. In my opinion the First Amendment should have some restrictions about people speaking up against other people who may be "different". But other people might not think that.

Claudia period 6

6/5/2013 11:16:46 pm

Okay, yes, the First Amendment grants you freedom of speech. So technically people can't really tell you you're not allowed to have opinions. The difference is knowing your rights and abusing them. Yes, you are free to say what you want, but there's no need to be a jerk about it. If you have nothing positive to say, then you should probably just keep your negativity to yourself. There's a big difference between exercising your rights and just being rude.

Rebecca Per. 2

6/5/2013 11:51:11 pm

People take advantage of their First Amendment right every day. It gets to a point where they aren't just saying things to be stupid, they're saying them because they legally can. Social media sites like Facebook can only do so much about hateful things glorifying violence and other crimes before it becomes a constitutional issue. The law and rights of the Facebook corporation can only protect their actions for so long before it comes back to bite them.

Travis Period 6

6/6/2013 04:20:18 am

I think this is a good idea but i don't think it is going to do much, people are still going to say bad stuff on sites like facebook. There is no way that they will be able to track everything everybody is doing even if they are reported or flagged. I hopefully they dont do anything stupid like how on youtube a comment is automatically blocked if it gets to many flags. I dont really care though because i never go on facebook anymore.

Mikaela Period 1

6/6/2013 07:09:40 am

This is a good idea but many people think to do whatever they want. I do not think this will have any affect because it is controled everywhere. There are many facebook users. This is a good idea because it will try and stop some drama although people may continue with what they are doing.

Steven Johnson period 6

6/6/2013 10:17:19 am

I think that this is a good idea for facebook to be against hate speeches online. I think that many other social medias should take action just like facebook has done. Maybe now this will stop a lot of the hate that takes place throughout the social medias, and it can even stop a lot of fights from happening in school or anywhere around.

Darren Grant Period 6

6/6/2013 11:09:41 am

This is a good idea, especially because people like to make fun of others without consequence. Now that there is a consequence, cyberbullying and fights will be cut down to the minimum.

Sarah Reilly Per.2

6/6/2013 09:43:38 pm

I feel like people take advantage of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter because they know that thousands of people will see the things they post whether or not it is positive or negative. They do this to get a reaction out of people and that is exactly what they are getting out of Facebook at this point. They are only going to find ways to do it again. I'm not saying that I'm against freedom of speech but there is a limit on what should be broadcasted for the the world to see.

Sam Malm period 1

6/6/2013 11:15:11 pm

As a person who goes on Facebook everyday and see all these hate pages and people asking to report them, I knew it did nothing. But now that Facebook has taken an action against hate speech, is actually very somehow comforting to me

Makenzie Driscoll Period 4

6/7/2013 01:04:04 am

I think that this is a good idea to try and moniter it. Even though some people will still post things and they will get reported, facebook wont have enough people to sit there and to look through everything that was reported. But then again there is freedom of speech and I think that if you dont want to see it then you dont have to make a facebook or go on the website, of if you have one then you can block the people that are posting the things you find offensive or dont like to see.

Bryant Per.5

6/7/2013 04:42:45 am

I think that online should be the same as in person, if someone says something directly to someone than they can be charged or get in trouble. If someone has the right to say something in person they should be able to say it on the internet as well and that goes both ways.

Oanh nguyen period 5

6/7/2013 07:17:29 am

This does goes against the first amendment but I'm glad that facebook is doing something about it. Sure, people are allow to say whatever they want but there are some things that should not be said. I think most people wouldn't care about this unless they're the ones being attacked. I go on facebook everyday and often see hate comments about race and religion. I want it to stop.

Andrea Henninger, period 5

6/7/2013 08:12:17 am

The first amendment definitely makes this tricky. In my opinion though, social media sites have every right to not allow users to use hateful speech. I think so because the creators of these social media sites have every right to decide the rules of the site, and what people can and cannot post. Therefore, if someone wants to use this kind of speech, they can use it elsewhere.

Matt Carney Per.4

6/7/2013 08:51:43 am

I think it is a good idea for facebook to take action against online hate speech on their website.I think most people wouldn't care about this unless they're the ones being attacked. Now that there are consequences i bullying will have its rate lowered a bit.

Leah Fitz-Simon Period 6

6/7/2013 09:54:52 am

I think that it is a great idea for Facebook to add this filter. This will give some consequence to those who used Facebook in order to hate on someone. The First Amendment gives people the freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean that you can just go and say whatever you want - the Amendment has it's limits.

tiana dickenson period 4

6/7/2013 11:07:15 am

i think this is a good idea because people think they can say what ever they want to whoever they want when they are hidden behind a computer screen. this can stop cyberbullying as well

Gabbie Demers period 5

6/7/2013 11:43:41 am

I think this is a good thing that Facebook is doing,I think that freedom of speech is important, but people should have more respect for others even if they don't agree, there should be no need for hate pages. I think the next problem here will be that where do they draw the line, do they stop at big topics or do they take it all the way to people, like hate pages against sports or music fans. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Ryan Grundy Per.4

6/7/2013 12:02:39 pm

I think they should have the right or take down any offensive post or tweet if they feel it is targeted towards anybody or any group or race there is because that's not right.

bronwyn p.1

6/7/2013 04:30:25 pm

I think that this goes against peoples freedom of speech. I deffiently don't approve of the hate messages & comments on facebook but if you post something publicly people are allowed to comment what they want. When people report someone for doing something on facebook, facebook usually doesn't do much about it other then delete it completely or ban someone for a few days. But now they are gonna take further actions to make this better which in my opinion is something they should've done a long time ago before this even became big.

Alexia M period 6

6/10/2013 07:25:26 am

I think that people who go on Facebook should know not to speak offensively to others even if they have the First Amendment. I think its crazy that this argument is even coming up because people shouldn't even be saying mean things towards each other. However, I believe that hurting others is an exception to Freedom of Speech. I think that people shouldn't be allowed to be sexist, racist and overall hurt people. I think that stopping this is necessary and laws against the rude comments should continue to happen.

Mitchell Period 4

6/10/2013 11:48:00 pm

People should be allowed to say whatever they want, even it is rude or hateful . Facebook can do whatever they want to their website, but I hope it doesn't become like that on the rest of the internet. That would violate the first amendment.

Nicole Morales Period 6

6/12/2013 12:38:56 am

I think that restricting the hate speech online is a good thing because it is so rude and not nice to say, but I agree that it does conflict with the Amendment that allows freedom of speech. As Americans, we are proud of the rights that we have and that our democracy allows us to have so much feedom as citizens of our country. Though we wish we could control what people say, we can't because of one of the rights that we treasure so much.

Arden Bastia period 6

6/12/2013 06:31:15 am

I think it's a step in the right direction for Facebook to restrict hate speech. I also think that this could lead to other social media sites blocking anything sexist or racist, etc. The fact that Facebook has sort of turned a blind eye to their "report" feature is a little disappointing. I understand that people have a right to say and do what they want (within reason), but I think that a media site such as Facebook should pay a little more attention to things like that.

Jonathan Provencal Period 4

6/13/2013 09:03:10 am

I think that it is not a violation of the First Amendment. It should not be considered a violation if it is hate speech about another group or race of people. They should censor or delete hate speech.

Nicole Langlois period 4

6/13/2013 10:03:54 pm

I think that this does not violate the first amendment. Even though what people say online can be rude and hurtful, it still does not break the Amendment because everyone still has freedom of speech. It was Facebook's choice to restrict hate speech but I don't think that because one website blocked it that every other social media website will as well. I think Facebook made a good choice restricting the hate because it probably caused a lot of drama on that website and what people were saying was rude and hurtful and those kind of comments just should not be published.

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