Archives: Controversies

In May 2015, Facebook deleted visually graphic content after child protection advocates complained about videos depicting decapitations. A few months later, in a quiet reversal the social network once again allowed graphic content to be posted on the site. It was criticised for allowing such material while banning other content such as nudity.

Facebook has been accused of using a complicated series of shell companies in tax havens to avoid billions of dollars in corporate tax. The company’s filings for Facebook Ireland through which all of its profits outside the US are channeled allow it to make gross profits by moving large amounts of money to other subsidiaries in the form of royalty payments.

There were complaints especially from non-English speaking Facebook users' of their statuses being mistakenly or intentionally deleted for allegedly violating Facebook's posting guidelines. This was because Facebook did not have a proper support system to genuinely read the non-English content and make decisions. Sometimes the content of the status would not have any abusive of defamatory language, but nevertheless would get taken down after being reported by a group of people as "offensive". For other languages than English, Facebook was unable to identify the group approach that is used to

In June 2012, Facebook removed all email addresses from users' profiles and replaced it with an '@facebook.com'. Facebook had initially launched its email service in November 2010, with the hope of providing one inbox where users could send and receive emails and messages. The service never caught on, and was promptly forgotten by everyone.

A series of pro-rape pages, full of ugliness, aggression and pornographic language began multiplying on Facebook in 2012, drawing user traffic to the social networking site. This led to activists and victim support groups in Britain and America, where Facebook is based, urging the social network to take down these pages.

On 4 September 2011, The Daily Irish Independent reported that the Data Protection Commission (DPC) would conduct a full investigation into Facebook's alleged violations of European data protection law. The basis for this investigation were the 22 complaints by 'europe-v-facebook.org', which was founded by a group of Austrian students. Under European law Facebook Ireland is the "data controller" for the social network, and therefore, is governed by European data protection laws.

In 2011, Karen Young, after Facebook terminating her account, decided to sue the social network for alleged violations of the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and related state laws on disability as well as breach of contract and negligence. The court however ruled that the ADA was inapplicable to Facebook because it was a website not a physical space.

In May 2011, emails were sent to journalists and bloggers making critical allegations about Google's privacy policies. However, it was later discovered that the anti-Google campaign, conducted by PR giant Burson-Marsteller, was paid for by Facebook in what CNN described as "a new level skullduggery" and which Daily Beast called a "clumsy smear".

Facebook's privacy controls do not protect its users privacy under federal law. The US federal courts' failure to adapt the Fourth Amendment to the evolving realities of Internet architecture have led to criticisms of Facebook's weak and shifting privacy rules.

In October 2017, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that many of Facebook's top-rated apps had been transmitting identifying user information to dozens of advertising and internet tracking companies. The investigation claimed that the issue affected tens of millions of Facebook users.