Civil Rights Groups Criticize Facebook for Censoring Police Shootings

A coalition of 40 tech and racial justice civil rights groups slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an open letter for “silencing individuals at the request of the police” after two separate incidents in which the social media company suspended livestreams of police shootings by African-American users. The controversy arose amid reports that Zuckerberg reprimanded Facebook employees for defacing “Black Lives Matters” messages written on the walls of company headquarters. Groups called on Facebook to recognize its importance as a tool for “documenting police misconduct” and institute transparent policies regarding content censorship and collaboration with law enforcement.