On the eve of July 4, a major Texas newspaper, the Vindicator decided to post on his page on Facebook excerpts from the Declaration of independence. The main goal of the project was to recall the history of the country and its ideals in anticipation of the holiday.
Facebook graciously missed the first 9 posts with a selection of quotes from the Declaration. And on the 10th the algorithms of social networks found in the document of 1776, written under the guidance of the 3rd US President Thomas Jefferson, «xenophobic statements». As a result, the entry was automatically removed, and the newspaper received the notice to revise the content of your page and remove content that does not match the information network policy.
Vindicator gave a «xenophobic» quotes from the Declaration of independence on its official website:
«He refused from the management of the colonies, announcing to deprive us of his protection and began a war against us».
«He robbed us of the sea, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and deprived our people of life.»
«At present he sends to us a large army of foreign mercenaries, to finally sow death, destruction and tyranny to set, which already found its expression in the facts of cruelty and treachery, which hardly took place even in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.»
«He has forced our fellow citizens taken prisoner in the open sea, to fight against their country, kill their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.»
«He encouraged us to inner rebellions and tried to bring on the inhabitants of our frontier the merciless land of savage Indians, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of people, regardless of age, sex and marital status».
What part of the Declaration of independence, «alarmed» program filter Facebook, Vindicator doesn’t, but its editor in chief Casey Stinnett inclined to believe that the culprit is the phrase «savage Indians», which objectively has a negative postcolonial connotation.
Since the message was automatically generated by Facebook, Casey Stinnett addressed directly to the administration of the social network. In his letter, he explained that Vendicator applied the well-established principle of direct citation of a historical document, not their own information policy. Also chief editor of the newspaper noted that not undertake to evaluate the contents of the Declaration of independence, although some of the statements Thomas Jefferson really have signs of hate speech — «hate speech».
Facebook has brought the publication of an apology and regained his posts, but at this point the story has already managed to cause a wide resonance line.
