DPP to tackle troll abuse with Twitter and Facebook chiefs

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Britain’s top prosecutor will meet Facebook bosses and Twitter users next week in a new bid to decide when charges should be brought over online comments.
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standard.co.uk/news/uk/dpp-to-tackle-troll-abuse-with-twitter-and-facebook-chiefs-8199037.html?origin=internalSearch

I am not sure where I stand on this as regards the law. I think that if a person is retweeting threats against a person or group then perhaps they should be prosecuted, especially if it is a serious threat such as a death threat.

That said, I also think Facebook and Twitter should moderate comments and such a little more closely when someone is bullying another person. I just wonder if anyone has ever committed suicide due to bullying done on Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

But then again, you can’t violate free speech. There is really a thin line I think between moderating comments and removing the bullying ones and violating free speech. What is everyone else’s views on this?

EDIT TO ADD: I think it is obvious that some kinds of speech can be immoral and even sinful. The Catechism does speak on issues such as calumny.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a8.htm#2475
 
It’s difficult to determine when the line has been crossed, isn’t it? I believe wholeheartedly in free speech, although it is definitely often abused. I saw an appalling abuse of free speech on the news (a video clip) that made me sick, but I’ve been praying a lot lately in general. I’ve come to the conclusion that there may not be much we can do about it legislatively, but after drawing their last breath, those who think they will suffer no consequences for their actions will have to answer to God at their judgement. If I personally saw someone saying something inappropriate or threatening, I’d correct them so they know others take notice and that it’s unacceptable. Anyway, that is my opinion on the matter.
 
While tweeting or retweeting threats, harassing statements, etc. is certainly morally wrong, one thing we’ve learned time and again in regulation of speech on the internet is that it necessarily leads to abuse and censorship of permissable speech. Just look at the problems that YouTube has with it’s ContentID program and legitimate speech getting erroneously censored.

Long story short, there’s no good way of doing this.
 
My opinion is that though man declares that you have freedom, God will hold you accountable for it.
 
I agree with what everyone has said. It is very difficult to legislate speech and possibly even a bad idea. However, God will hold us accountable for every idle word we say and every non-idle word we say as well.
 
Holly3278 said:
[That said, I also think Facebook and Twitter should moderate comments and such a little more closely when someone is bullying another person. I just wonder if anyone has ever committed suicide due to bullying done on Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.]](That said, I also think Facebook and Twitter should moderate comments and such a little more closely when someone is bullying another person. I just wonder if anyone has ever committed suicide due to bullying done on Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.])

I don’t think we can reasonably expect Facebook or Twitter to monitor the remarks made. Facebook alone has 1 billion active users posting 290,000 status updates and uploading 140,000 photos every minute. Thats why they rely on users themselves to report comments and photos that violate the TOS. And, yes, there have been cases of cyber bullying leading to suicide.
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EmperorNapoleon said:
I don’t think we can reasonably expect Facebook or Twitter to monitor the remarks made. Facebook alone has 1 billion active users posting 290,000 status updates and uploading 140,000 photos every minute. Thats why they rely on users themselves to report comments and photos that violate the TOS. And, yes, there have been cases of cyber bullying leading to suicide.
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I have no idea what kind of monitoring Twitter does but I do know that Facebook has some moderation. As for Youtube, I don’t think it has hardly any monitoring of comments made on videos. It does moderate videos though.
 
Free Speech is a modern myth we take far too literally, as we do the concept of freedom generally.

There are no absolute values - all speech is conditional and subject to the rights of others to live free of fear, abuse or harassment. If individuals refuse to accept the responsibility of such conditional behaviour, then the rest of us have the right to curtail their ability to be effective. Moreover, we have the obligation to protect weaker & more vulnerable people from bullying and lies, regardless of its origin.

And those who facilitate such networks should have the same duties as a newspaper owner & his editor, and should be held accountable for what they allow. Let’s face it - Facebook & Twitter, et al make a bundle out of their services, and should cough up the cost of monitoring.
 
Holly3278 said:
I have no idea what kind of monitoring Twitter does but I do know that Facebook has some moderation. As for Youtube, I don’t think it has hardly any monitoring of comments made on videos. It does moderate videos though.
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Facebook does catch some things that are particularly egregious violations of the TOS but they usually don’t monitor status updates or comments. Those are generally policed by the users themselves and Facebook does have a function to block other users from even viewing your page. YouTube focuses more on copyright violations rather than the nature of comments or videos posted. I’m not certain about Twitter.
 
EmperorNapoleon said:
Facebook does catch some things that are particularly egregious violations of the TOS but they usually don’t monitor status updates or comments. Those are generally policed by the users themselves and Facebook does have a function to block other users from even viewing your page. YouTube focuses more on copyright violations rather than the nature of comments or videos posted. I’m not certain about Twitter.
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In a way I wish that Youtube had more strict monitoring and moderating of comments on Youtube videos. I can’t even count the times I have been flamed simply for stating the official Church teaching on something.
 
Holly3278 said:
In a way I wish that Youtube had more strict monitoring and moderating of comments on Youtube videos. I can’t even count the times I have been flamed simply for stating the official Church teaching on something.
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Happens a lot in CAF
 
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