Facebook announced Tuesday that the company is banning content that includes explicit praise, support, or representation of white nationalism or separatism, according to a report by Motherboard. It is the latest move by the company to crack down on extremist ideologies that have spread quickly in the age of social media.
Facebook’s decision comes less than two weeks after a terrorist attack on the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which a gunman opened fire on people. The man streamed the attack, which killed 50 people and injured 50 others, on Facebook Live, and the footage quickly circulated on other websites.
The shooter was an avowed white supremacist, and had posted a manifesto online claiming that immigration and declining birth rates among white people in Europe were a threat to European culture. Conspiracy theories like this have taken root on a number of websites, both popular and not, and in the wake of attacks like the one in Christchurch, people have begun criticizing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, platforms that in the past have been accused of taking a laissez faire approach to speech.
After a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 resulted in violence and the death of counterprotestor Heather Heyer, Facebook adjusted its policies to ban explicit white supremacist posts, but still allowed posts advocating white nationalism and white separatism.
As Facebook has faced increasing scrutiny in the last few years, founder Mark Zuckerberg has been more vocal in explaining the company’s decisions and philosophy, as well as acknowledging ways in which he thinks Facebook needs to change. In an interview with Recode, he detailed how Facebook needs to balance freedom of expression with concerns about fake news and safety.
“There are really two core principles at play here,” he said. “There’s giving people a voice, so that people can express their opinions. Then, there’s keeping the community safe, which I think is really important. We’re not gonna let people plan violence or attack each other or do bad things. Within this, those principles have real trade-offs and real tug on each other.”
Zuckerberg added: “The principles that we have on what we remove from the service are: If it’s going to result in real harm, real physical harm, or if you’re attacking individuals, then that content shouldn’t be on the platform.”
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to bed thinking I will finally sleep on time, only to somehow end up scrolling Instagram or X again. A few minutes turn into an hour, then another, and before I notice, it is 2 or 3 a.m. The next morning, I am usually annoyed with myself because I could have just slept and felt considerably better for the day ahead.
It is also a surprisingly hard habit to beat. Knowing you should put the phone down does not always help once it is already in your hand. Brick Night is a new gadget built around that exact problem. Instead of relying on you to remember to turn on an app blocker, it automatically restricts selected apps and websites when your phone enters your chosen sleep space during the hours you set.