Feminist writer Clementine Ford has criticised Facebook for double standards after she was banned for 30 days for confronting an internet troll, while a meme depicting domestic violence was deemed not to violate community standards.
Ms Ford, a columnist for Australia's Daily Life, was suspended on Friday after telling an online troll, who allegedly called her a 'diseased whore', to 'f**k off'. Meanwhile, a meme showing a young woman with a bloodied face and the caption 'He told me to make him a sandwich, I should have listened' was not removed after Ms Ford reported it, with Facebook citing 'annoying and distasteful humour'.
In response, Ms Ford lambasted Facebook as 'hypocritical' with a 'pathetic, hostile attitude towards women'. Using a secondary account to bypass her ban, she wrote: 'We have to tolerate threats of violence and disparaging remarks about our bodies... because this is "humour" and "free speech". But God forbid a tiny, childish little baby boy have to be told to f**k off.'
Facebook's community standards state they remove content that 'threatens or promotes sexual violence or exploitation' and hate speech based on sex or gender. However, they note that 'something that may be disagreeable or disturbing to you may not violate our Community Standards'.
Last year, Ms Ford was suspended for reposting violent threats she received, including a man asking for nude pictures and another telling her to 'sit on a butcher's knife'. A Facebook spokesman told the Independent the company is investigating the matter.
