Protection or Censorship

I learned a new term today - Facebook Jail. It's what happens when a post is removed and/or an account is deleted when found to be potentially objectionable. Black people have reported being targeted, especially when including the word "white" in their posts. Instead, in some groups where racism and social issues may include heated conversations and tough, but important discussion points, black people can be found using "yt" as a replacement. It's an attempt to avoid biased detection.

I have a TON of questions. How often does this happen and to whom? Is this a good thing, with relatively small side-effects? Or, is it hurting more than helping? Is this a proactive measure meant to make the social media platform a better, kinder one? Or, is this political correctness and tone policing gone totally wrong? How can we identify and confront bias when we don't even know where it is in our daily lives? Is there anything all at that we can do about it?

The tools with which we communicate easily skew meanings & intent. No, we don't always know where the bias is, but, most of all, YES, we can do something about it. And we should.

Image courtesy Mike Licht via Flickr