On Monday, Facebook said that a grisly beheading video did not violate the site's terms and conditions for graphic violence. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the site told Examiner why that decision was made.
"People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it," said Facebook spokesman Fred Wolens.
"Just as TV news programs often show upsetting images of atrocities, people can share upsetting videos on Facebook to raise awareness of actions or causes. While this video is shocking, our approach is designed to preserve people's rights to describe, depict and comment on the world in which we live," he added.
But do Facebook's rules allow that?
"We only list out what we prohibit on the site, not what we allow, as such we make clear in the Community Standards that this graphic violence must not be promoting or celebrating the act," Wolens explained in an email to Examiner.
But couldn't the same thing be said of other postings that have gotten users banned?
Recently, administrators of the Facebook page " Barracuda Brigade for our American Girl! 2012 " were punished for a link to an article at Bare Naked Islam that contained a graphic image of a young boy who was decapitated.
According to Wolens, the issue wasn't the link, but the comment that was included with it.
“Just think, if THE CRUSADES had not ever stopped, we wouldn't be having to put up with stinkin' Muslims in the world and Obama would have never been born," the comment said.
Diane Sori, a Florida-based blogger, received a 30-day ban from Facebook even though she knew absolutely nothing about the post and did not have internet access at the time.
Sori, who was livid over the explanation, told Examiner she believes her punishment had more to do with her political beliefs than anything else.
"They're aiming to shut us down for the 2014 mid-terms," she said.
Facebook, however, maintains the site is not targeting people for their political point of view, but conservatives are finding that denial difficult to believe.
We did not provide a link to the video due to the extremely graphic nature of its content.
Related:
Facebook: Beheading video 'doesn't violate' standards for graphic violence This July 4th, celebrate Freedom from Facebook Day Facebook yanks gun sellers’ pages over firearm sweepstakes Conservative bloggers say Facebook selectively enforcing non-existent rules Liberals on Twitter celebrate death of Margaret Thatcher Facebook bans conservative blogger for link she did not post Facebook targets conservative page for closure, backtracks and apologizes White House yanks petition asking for action on Facebook censorship Is Facebook actively censoring conservative bloggers? Do Facebook policies banning users squelch free speech? Facebook page calling for death of Sarah Palin gets more violent
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