No guarantee offensive material is removed

PETALING JAYA: Reporting offensive material found on social media does not guarantee its removal from the platform.

Even the number of reports against it does not have an impact on whether the offensive post will be taken down.

Facebook states on its website that not all disagreeable or disturbing content violates its Community Standards, a set of policies that helps users understand what type of content is allowed.

“We remove content, disable accounts and work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety,” it states.

Even then, Facebook only makes the offensive post unavailable in the relevant country or territory if the content is deemed illegal under the local law concerned.

Although Facebook’s guidelines, and those of Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are extensive, it relies on its users’ common sense to respect the online community.

“YouTube has clear policies and community guidelines that prohibit content like gratuitous violence, hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts.

“We remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users,” said a Google spokesman.

Last month, the German government proposed fining social media sites up to US$50mil (RM252mil) if they fail to remove abuse, fake news and obvious criminal content within 24 hours, across the entire platform.

The Bill, proposed by Justice Minister Heiko Maas, suggested that other criminal content should be blocked or deleted within a week.

He also wanted social media firms to be required to publish quarterly reports on complaints and how they were handled.

A survey by the ministry’s Youth Protection Agency found that YouTube was able to remove about 90% of illegal postings within a week, while Facebook deleted or blocked just 39% of content deemed criminal under the law, with Twitter at only 1%.