Facebook needs to narrow its “sweeping” definition of terrorism to stop governments arbitrarily blocking legitimate opposition groups and dissenting voices, a UN Human Rights Council independent expert said in a statement on Monday. “The use of overly broad and imprecise definitions as the basis for regulating access to and the use of Facebook’s platform may lead to discriminatory implementation, over-censoring and arbitrary denial of access to and use of Facebook’s services,” said Ní Aoláin. Facebook’s definition, she said, equates all non-state groups that use violence in pursuit of any goals or ends to terrorist entities. The social media network’s polices prohibit terrorists from using its services, and it uses detection technologies and a growing team of moderators to find and remove content. “The use of such a sweeping definition is particularly worrying in light of a number of governments seeking to stigmatise diverse forms of dissent and opposition -- whether peaceful or violent -- as terrorism,” Ni Aolain said.

Source: Hindustan Times September 03, 2018 09:00 UTC