Facebook Creates Censorship Tool To Appease China

Facebook has developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, a move aimed at helping the social media giant get into China, the New York Times reports. According to current and former Facebook employees who spoke to the Times, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has supported and defended the effort. There is some precedent for the move: Facebook blocked roughly 55,000 pieces of content in about 20 countries between July 2015 and December 2015. This move is different in that it would prevent stories from appearing on the site in the first place. Facebook plans to offer the software to third parties to monitor popular stories and topics that are being widely shared, then determine whether the posts should show up in users’ feeds. The employees told the Times that the development was among many experiments Facebook is exploring with regard to growing in China, and it may never see the light of day. China has blocked the social network since 2009 because of strict censorship rules.