'Report' Features Are Used Silence Dissent and Spread Propaganda

As consumers and companies realize the sheer magnitude of cyberbullying and online harassment, social networks have made efforts to put safeguards in place. Unfortunately, these tools are being turned completely against their purpose, being used to silence others online and may even be supporting state propaganda.

Case in point: Journalists and news outlets in Vietnam have come under an assault in the form of mass reporting of their pages and posts on Facebook. Journalist Doan Trang writes: “The Vietnamese communist police recently have developed a new tactic against dissident Pages on Facebook, which is to ‘report abuse’ under Facebook’s policy.”