Speaker blasts Facebook over hate speech whistleblower

(ANSA) - Rome, January 19 - Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini on Thursday blasted Facebook for blocking the post of a young woman who reported that a closed group was publishing stolen pictures of women accompanied by obscene comments. "It is unacceptable that a global platform with 28 million users in Italy alone, which says it wants to combat hate speech, then uses censorship against someone who reports hate via the publication of obscenities and violence, while not intervening against those who do it and boast about it," Boldrini said on her Facebook page. Boldrini was commenting about the post by a young woman, Arianna Drago, who highlighted some closed groups that allegedly insulted woman and incited rape, among other things. Drago said part of one of her posts had been blocked because it did not respect the "standards of the community".
    "What standards is this community based on?" commented Boldrini.
    "And which ones did Arianna breach by drawing attention to a squalid practice that is deeply damaging to the dignity and rights of women?".