Facebook’s policies prohibit doxxing on the platform. Facebook permitted The Cincinnati Enquirer access to private information (including an address) for Lakota schoolboard candidates.
The Enquirer is “Pulitzer Prize-winning local journalism” out of Cincinnati.com. The site posted on Facebook concerning reported Venmo transactions by Lakota school board candidates. The Cincinnati.com article linked to the post also includes a closeup photo of personal data in the Venmo transaction. It contains names and addresses, as well as a date. Addresses are supposed to be banned from Facebook by the platform’s doxxing policy.
The Facebook post from Oct. 29 reads, “With more school board candidates this election comes a lack of familiarity with campaign finance law.” The post also has a link to a Cincinnati.com Enquirer article, “Lakota school board candidates’ use of Venmo may violate campaign finance law,” and an image seemingly of a Venmo transaction. Facebook hadn’t removed this post at the time that the article was published.
The EnquirerOriginal tweets about this story were posted two times on Twitter. Both original tweets contained the image and address. This seemed a clear violation of Twitter’s “private information policy.” The image on the tweets has since been changed to contain an alleged Venmo transaction with names but no address.
The “Privacy Violations and Image Privacy Rights” section of Facebook’s Community Standards forbid posting “Personal contact information of others such as phone numbers, addresses and email addresses” and “financial information.”
Posting the address on Facebook also seemed to go against the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which warns about minimizing harm, such as weighing the “consequences of publishing or broadcasting personal information.”
Facebook does not enforce its rules against doxxers who are already on the site. In late 2020, Facebook allowed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) to be doxed by its pages. Violent group “Smash Racism DC” was reportedly allowed to dox and threaten Fox News host Tucker Carlson in 2018 without being removed from Facebook.
Conservatives under attackTwitter: (415) 222-9670 to demand Big Tech to be held accountable for mirroring the First Amendment and providing equal access to conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’sUse the contact formHelp us to hold Big Tech responsible.
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