Streetsblog picked up on the whole Facebook group story and managed to get a response from one of their own. Here’s an excerpt:
Streetsblog asked Facebook whether this group violates their Terms of Use, particularly sections 6 and 7, under “Safety”:
6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
Facebook’s Simon Axten told us the group has been reviewed and deemed kosher by the company’s staff. Presumably the reason they are not removing this group boils down to how one interprets the phrase “actionable threats of violence.” Here’s Axten’s explanation:
We take our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities very seriously and react quickly to remove reported content that violates our policies. Specifically, we’re sensitive to content that includes hate speech and/or actionable threats of violence. The goal of these policies is to strike a very delicate balance between giving Facebook users the freedom to express their opinions and beliefs, even controversial ones, and maintaining a safe and trusted environment.
We’ve reviewed this group and determined that it doesn’t violate our policies.  We encourage users to report anything they feel does violate these policies using the report links located throughout the site. Thanks.
Read the full story here.
