A few days ago, Facebook has removed the account of a web magazine, Rassegna Stanca, that show and debate reports of the italian media. Its fault had been to invite members of the group to discuss an editorial appeared in the Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire, referring to what the Pope said in Africa on AIDS and condoms.
The justification given by Facebook? "This behavior can annoy other people." The editorial staff has proclaimed in protest a virtual strike of a few days and then reactivated the account, losing however all the news and members prior to cancellation. The strange incident raises some questions.
Maybe Facebook has taken fear for 'Amendment D'Alia, the much disputed measure prefiguring the obscuration of websites for "apology of crime". Or maybe it happened by chance because the moderator of the day was a Catholic fundamentalist. Or who knows, maybe the moderator is just a program that eliminates the potentially uncomfortable discussions by keywords. In that case, better be careful not to write too many times, "Pope" and "condom".
But in reality, Facebook is a private site and its terms of use clearly state that any account could be erased, when they want and for any reason. Indeed it is known that often the accounts are deleted, even without apparent reasons (always suspect the program that controls the keywords and probably from time to time freaks out).
But certainly, it is interesting to note that in Italy no one cares too much to censor websites and groups more or less neo-Nazis, supporters of Mafia and so on, but this is already the second case, see the story of Aduc forum, in which Vatican attacks led to an immediate censorship. It isn't strange, indeed?
Francesco Defferrari
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