Facebook and Nick Clegg’s betrayal of online abuse victims – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Coun Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff (Lib Dem), Hunmanby ward, Scarborough Borough Council.
Nick Clegg is a former deputy prime minister and ex-leader of the Liberal Demcorats.Nick Clegg is a former deputy prime minister and ex-leader of the Liberal Demcorats.
Nick Clegg is a former deputy prime minister and ex-leader of the Liberal Demcorats.

AS one of 200 Liberal Democrat members who nominated then Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg for the leadership of the party, I read with interest his recent claim that Facebook has too much control over content on its platform.

As an instinctive liberal, I have immense sympathy regarding the rights of individuals in a free society to express themselves without corporate censorship.

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However, his claim that there are insufficient “democratically agreed rules and standards” is simply not true. The balance between free speech and the protection from hate speech is well established in free democratic societies.

Is Facebook doing enough to stop online hate speech?Is Facebook doing enough to stop online hate speech?
Is Facebook doing enough to stop online hate speech?

Mr Clegg’s protestations are little comfort to Facebook users such as myself who have been the subject of a sustained campaign of vile hate-based material relating to mental health which Facebook continuously deems to not breach its rules. I struggle to comprehend how Facebook has come to these decisions.

In addition to the complete failure to investigate complaints from myself within the promised time period, the hostile behaviour of support staff has been staggering. It has led me to believe that at the core of Facebook there is a dysfunctional moderation engine room perpetuating not removing hate speech.

Freedom of speech is as precious a right as freedom to be oneself. It isn’t a choice.

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As someone who once believed Mr Clegg was the solution, now, as Facebook vice president, I fear he is very much the problem.

From: David Stainthorpe, Bramham Road, Thorner, Leeds.

AS the weeks go by, the Government appears to have completely lost all interest in attempting to resolve the issues they created at our borders.

They have made it almost impossible to export and import products we vitally need to fulfil the order requirements of our customers.

I am just a small business owner with a retail turnover of £1.3m, but I have worked hard for the last 30 years to get to where we are today and I never expected to see the devastation the Conservative Party has wrought.

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Ever since I reached the legal voting age, I voted for the Conservative party.

The only time I have not voted for the party was at the last election because I could see the chaos that was coming our way after the “lies” and “deceit” from Boris Johnson et al.

MPs, please try to redeem yourselves and save our country and thousands of businesses (small and large) that will simply cease to exist unless there is a radical effort to sort out this mess. It’s no good saying it’s simply teething problems. It’s not. It’s simply fundamentally wrong.

Please respond according to your duty as an elected MP.

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