In Lifting Violent-Video Ban, Facebook Seeks Its “Tahrir Square” Moment

Facebook lifted a ban on a violent video circulating across its network, one in which a woman is beheaded. While the company immediately came under fire from child-protection groups and family online safety advocates, Facebook defended its stance with a familiar argument: “Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they’re connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events. People share videos of these events on Facebook to condemn them.”

In positioning itself as a bullhorn for free speech, Facebook is beginning to look and sound a lot like Twitter. On the one hand, this is a benevolent act. If Facebook wants to promote its platform as a protected one for free speech, that’s a win for activists. But it is hardly entirely altruistic. Facebook also wants to be seen as the place to go for discussions about less-controversial topics, such as live media events or TV shows. It is adjacent to those discussions that Facebook can sell ad space to brands, just as Twitter does now.