Zuckerberg explained that when they come across content that contains Holocaust denial, they essentially remove it from all promotional algorithms to curb it’s spreading on the platform.

As a free-speech absolutist (please don’t mistake me for a constitutional originalist, I am not), I found the reaction extremely disturbing. Rather than seeing Twitter explode with conversations about the potential dangers of social network CEOs deciding what speech to promote and what not to, there was an outcry that Zuckerberg wasn’t doing enough to censor ‘fake news’.

The words extremely disturbing above might read as hyperbolic, especially in this particular context of censoring abhorrent, easily falsifiable claims like ‘the Holocaust didn’t happen’. But I don’t think are, decisions like this one by Facebook to censor Holocaust denial set a precedent that normalizes behavior (censorship) that can be used it far less benign in the future.

Make no mistake, I think fake news is a problem on Facebook and they do need to measures to prevent falsehoods from rapidly spreading and influencing elections, but I don’t think this is the answer.

You might think this precedent isn’t a big deal. It is censorship of things we almost universally agree to be false and damaging, so would a social network ever censor important, less controversial opinions? Things that, might actually be true? Well, we don’t even need to think up a hypothetical future situation —this is already happening on YouTube. That’s what makes this really scary.

Source: Stop begging social network CEOs for censorship – Sam – Medium