Who's Responsible For Content on Facebook?

Nine News rang today, I knew why they were ringing and I was dreading being part of the story. Not for any other reason than I knew when I saw the number appear on my phone what Nine News was going to be putting to air, and I wished once again this topic would no longer exist and therefore need to be told.

CyberBullying, I have watched it grow from basic emailing of nasty comments and pictures, to what we have today, a mish mash of different online tools used for the single purpose of destroying the soul of an individual.

One question I was asked in the interview with the news guys was ‘who is responsible for the content on Facebook’. ‘Facebook is’ I said.

Now I will have this argument until I am blue in the face. I get that Facebook does not publish the content that resides on the website. Yes, yes, they provide the ecosystem and Facebook members creat the content.

However Facebook profit from the members and the posted content, and therefore they are responsible for policing that content. If they can’t do a good job of policing it, then they don’t deserve to host it.

I must also acknowledge that it’s not just Facebook that is used as a tool to deliver messages of hate. However, it is the main one I get asked to comment about, so let’s just say that they’re the main offender and the one who needs to clean up their act the most.