NEW YORK – Facebook is working with a gay-advocacy group to reduce
the amount of hate speech and bullying on the online social hub.
Anti-gay bullying has been in the spotlight recently
after the suicides of several gay teenagers, including Rutgers freshman
Tyler Clementi, garnered national attention. According to police, the
19-year-old jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate
secretly recorded him with another male student and distributed video
online.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
said it reached out to Facebook last week after Internet bullies
flooded a page set up to honor teens who recently killed themselves in
response to anti-gay hate.
The page, set up by a Facebook user, asks supporters
to wear purple next Wednesday in memory of the teenagers. Purple
represents "spirit" in the rainbow flag
that's the symbol of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
community. On Friday afternoon, most of the comments on the page were
from supporters.
Facebook said that its policies prohibit hateful
content and that it has systems in place to take down such posts as soon
as possible. But the company also said it wants its users to be able to
express unpopular opinions and as such must strike a careful balance
between removing harmful content and letting people speak freely.
"Facebook has taken an important first step in making social media a place where anti-gay violence is not allowed," said Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD.