Facebook, according to at least one news report, is taking down fan pages that support the man who allegedly crashed a small plane into a Texas office building.
The social networking giant could be setting a dangerous precedent by restricting the speech of its users if the report disseminated by the reputable Breaking News Twitter account attributed to NBC News is true. As Facebook becomes the modern-day water cooler across America and around the world, it is becoming increasingly important to foster conversations — of all perspectives.
While Tech Talk would never condone the alleged actions of Andrew Joseph Stack, simply stating opinions should not be restricted. In fact, such actions will likely make the situation worse as users could feel further ostracized and go further underground. It would be better to have such conversations carried out in open.
It has been widely reported that Stack crashed a plane into an Austin office building with federal offices around 11 a.m. ET Thursday. At least eight people were injured, according to the Statesman, and at least two people died, possibily including the pilot. The newspaper reported that officials said the incident “appears to be an intentional act, appears to be by a sole individual, and it appears this individual was targeting federal offices inside that building.”
While it is still not certain what exactly the respective groups are stating, if they are simply discussing the act of domestic terrorism and not encouraging similar actions, it seems that they would not pose a threat to national security.
America is founded on the freedom of speech, and such expression should be protected whether it is favorable or not, so as long as it does not encourage violence.
While this is fine, and a valid point, we’re forgetting one thing: Facebook is a private corporation. They have no responsibility to anyone but their owners. For a company that has as much advertising as Facebook, it only makes business sense to censor things like this. What is said on Facebook is NOT protected by the First Amendment, because Facebook owns it all, as it’s on their network.
I think these people have a right to say these things, of course. I don’t agree with them – these people, along with enablers like Fox News (and MSNBC on the liberal side, calm down, conservatives), are what fanned the flames of this guy in the first place – but it’s their right. They just have to do so on a non-corporate owned network.
Comment by Chris Bowen — February 18th, 2010 @ 9:18 pm