Mark Zuckerberg Charged With Censorship by Norway's Largest Newspaper
[Author's note: Since this story was published, Facebook reversed its decision, allowing Nick Ut's Vietnam War photograph "Napalm Girl" to be featured on the site. Facebook originally defended its decision to remove the photograph, noting the social media site tries "to find the right balance between enabling people to express themselves while maintaining a safe and respectful experience for our global community."]
Norway’s largest newspaper, the Aftenposten, published an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Thursday, accusing the social media giant of censoring a historic image and calling on him to honor the responsibility that comes with being the “world’s most powerful editor.”
Editor-in-chief Espen Egil Hansen wrote that he will not comply with Facebook’s demand to remove a post that included seven iconic wartime photographs. Hansen charged Facebook with removing a famous Vietnam War photograph by Nick Ut featuring a naked 9-year-old Kim Phuc, fleeing bombs. According to Hansen, Facebook subsequently redacted Phuc’s criticism against Facebook for censoring the image. That’s right: Facebook censored the subject of a photograph’s criticism against the company for censoring the photograph in the fist place.
“I am upset, disappointed—well, in fact even afraid—of what you are about to do to a mainstay of our democratic society,” Hansen wrote, noting the integral role Facebook has as “a world-leading platform for spreading information, for debate and for social contact between person.”
“I think you are abusing your power, and I find it hard to believe that you have thought it through thoroughly,” Hansen added.
Hansen argued the independent media has “an important task in bringing information, even including pictures, which sometimes may be unpleasant" and a “responsibility to consider publication in every single case.”
“This right and duty, which all editors in the world have, should not be undermined by algorithms encoded in your office in California,” Hansen argued.
The Aftenposten’s charge comes as Facebook continues to dominate publication, providing the company with more leverage to control exactly what information its nearly 2 billion users see. In August, Facebook did away with its human news curators after allegations arose that contractors hired to choose stories censored certain articles for political reasons. But now it seems clear humans aren’t the only ones censoring information.
“I have written this letter to you because I am worried that the world’s most important medium is limiting freedom instead of trying to extend it, and that this occasionally happens in an authoritarian way,” Hansen wrote.
As news publishers adapt to the changing landscape molded by Facebook, it seems clear that not even Mark Zuckerberg has perfected the future news model.
