Facebook's 'porn cops' to delete risque content and enforce decorum

So Facebook has now set-up a police morality squad or 'porn-cops' to clean its pages of vice and incivility.

In an online article in Newsweek the running title says:

To make Facebook advertiser-friendly, its 'porn cops' delete risqué content and enforce decorum.

At the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California, some 150 people the company employs help keep the site clean. Facebook describes these staffers as an internal police force, charged with regulating users' decorum, hunting spammers and working with actual law-enforcement agencies to help solve crimes.

Part hall monitors, part vice cops, these employees are key weapons in Facebook's efforts to maintain its image as a place that's safe for corporate advertisers—more so than predecessor social networks like Friendster and MySpace.

However, the hard part is that it puts Facebook and the squad on the front line of the debate over free speech on the Internet.

In yesterday's New York Times online there is a piece in the Technology section titled:

Facebook Wrestles With Free Speech and Civility

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, says that although his Web site brings people together, it is not a place for misfits and criminals.

Dave Willner (from his Facebook profile pic)

Dave Willner and his colleagues on Facebook’s “hate and harassment team” are now part of a virtual police squad charged with taking down content that is illegal or violates Facebook’s terms of service.

Dressed in Facebook’s quasi-official uniform of jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops, the 26-year-old Mr. Willner hardly looks like a cop on the beat.

Read the whole article here.

So now, Facebook users have to be wary. Any piece of content — a photograph, video, page or even a message between two individuals — that could offend somebody will be subjected to this 'hate and harassment team's' long arm of the law (approval or rejection).

So, today I have given this Facebook's 'long arm of the law' a test at how efficient they are. At approximately 2.50pm (Malaysian time) I had sent in an application through the Report/Block this Person on a Facebook account of a person who uses the name Barat Ngetot and selected inappropriate (use of) profile photo (yup! this Barat Ngetot had used a pornograhic material taken from some pornsite and used it as a profile pic).

Lets see if the Facebook administrator respond to this, and how long it will take them to block this Barat Ngetot?

Update: As of 4.40pm, 16 December 2010, I have checked -- the Facebook account of Barat Ngetot no longer exists. Thanks to the FB admins.