In honor of Independence Day, the Liberty Founder Vindicator, a small press in Texas, wanted to post segments of the Declaration of Independence on its social media profiles. However, when an excerpt failed to post, the paper was surprised to find that Facebook flagged the content as a hate-speech violation.
The algorithm tracks hate speech that demonstrates “a direct attack on people based on what [Facebook calls] protected characteristics – race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity and serious disability or disease,” Facebook’s manual says.
To be considered an attack, the speech must be either “violent or dehumanizing.”
The section of the Declaration that was flagged read:
“He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burn our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
Casey Stinnett, managing editor of the Vindicator, believes the reference to Native Americans as “Indian Savages” may have been the cause of the flag. However, he can’t be sure.
“To be honest, there is a good deal in that passage that could be thought hateful,” Stinnett told Vice News.
“The post was removed by mistake and restored as soon as we looked into it,” a Facebook spokesperson told Vice News. “We process millions of reports each week, and sometimes we get things wrong.”
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