Has your post, photo, status, video or tweet been blocked or deleted?

Let Onlinecensorship.org know today.

Onlinecensorship.org is a research and advocacy project from EFF and Visualizing Impact that gives social media users a place to report takedown notices and catalog content that has been removed from social media platforms. Simply follow the easy submission process to let them know how a platform has censored your content. The reporting tool will ask a series of questions about the content and the process through which you were notified by the company. The data is used to track trends and themes, inform our advocacy for transparency and due process on social media platforms, and measure the very real impact of online censorship in people’s lives and across communities. 

How your reports make a difference 

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have an outsized impact in our social lives. We use them to share our thoughts and engage in conversations on every topic imaginable, often forgetting that these are privately run companies with rules—sometimes clear, sometimes not—on what content the sites will host. And as these platforms are increasingly used to engage in activism and debate, they have the ability to limit or change the public discussion through what content is allowed, and what content is removed.

Unfortunately, in many cases it can be unclear why one piece of content is considered acceptable and another piece is not. Policies are often vague, frequently changed or updated, and content takedown notices sometimes point to rules that don’t appear to apply to the content in question. Additionally, companies also admit to having internal censorship policies beyond those that are made public. In September, for example, Twitter described an internal content policy which declared “newsworthiness” and “public interest” part of the consideration for allowing content that might otherwise be removed. This had not been stated before as a public policy.

Onlinecensorship.org collects reports from users to track why companies make censorship decisions and how those takedowns affect lives, communities, and public discussion.  Onlinecensorship.org shines light on these censorship decisions and policies, tracking content takedowns and trends to encourage companies to operate with greater transparency and accountability when they make decisions that regulate speech. 

Oftentimes, it is public outrage and scrutiny over censorship that helps bring policies into the light, or changes the debate over what is and is not considered acceptable speech. But, the very nature of platform censorship makes it difficult to fight against because it can be especially hard to rally around something that has been removed. Without the tracking of this censored content, it can be difficult or impossible to push back on content and moderation policies. Because these sites are run by corporations and can implement censorship policies of their choosing, transparency is one of the most important tools we have to track how free expression is affected by censorship on these platforms. 

In addition to analyses of the data submitted, Onlinecensorship.org contains resources for users wishing to appeal their takedowns; a resource kit for journalists interested in learning about online censorship; and a collection of additional readings on free speech and censorship online.

If you have been censored online, visit onlinecensorship.org to submit a report. You can also follow @censored on Twitter for updates and reports of takedowns.