We've been tracking the impact of social media content takedowns and account deactivations for many years. TOSsed Out highlights the various ways in which Terms of Service (TOS) and other speech moderation rules are unevenly enforced, with little to no transparency, against a wide spectrum of people.
Tossed Out
What Tumblr’s Ban on 'Adult Content' Actually Did
Tumblr’s ban on “adult content” is a treasure trove of problems: filtering technology that doesn’t work, a law that forces companies to make decisions that make others unsafe, and the problems that arise when one company has outsized influence on speech. It’s also the story of how people at the...
Transthetics Gets Blocked
Transthetics is a company that makes “innovative prosthetics for trans men et al.” Like many small businesses, they use YouTube to reach potential customers and share information with their community. But in April 2018, the channel was terminated due to “severe violations” of YouTube’s community guidelines on nudity and sexual...
Who Owns a Word?
In Myanmar, the word “kalar” is controversial. Though often used to refer to foreigners in general, it is more commonly used to refer to people of Indian origin, and sometimes in a derogatory manner to refer to Muslims. In 2007, reports emerged that Facebook was banning the word from...
Proving Their Point: 'White Men Are So Fragile' Lands Teacher in Facebook Jail
When high school teacher and activist Carolyn Wysinger saw a post about actor Liam Neeson that angered her, she shared it on Facebook with a comment: “White men are so fragile and the mere presence of a black person challenges every single thing in them.” The company deleted...
