Facebook Denies Culpability in Mourtada Debacle
By Curt on Feb 29, 2008 in Morocco, Fouad Mourtada, Facebook, Censorship
Subsequent to her conversation with us, Wall Street Journal reporter Vauhini Vara succeeded in getting a response, of sorts, from Facebook. She asked the company whether they had turned over information to the Moroccan security forces on the identity of their former user Fouad Mourtada. Mourtada was sentenced to three years in prison for creating a satirical Facebook profile for Morocco’s Crown Prince. It is uncertain how the security forces were able to identify Mourtada, since he did not use his real identity in creating the account.
In her article in the Journal, Vara quotes a Facebook PR representative denying that the company had provided the Moroccan security forces with the identity of Mourtada, but asserted they might do such a thing in the future.
Brandee Barker, a Facebook spokewoman, said in a statement that the company’s privacy policy and terms of use allow it to share information with law enforcement and other government agencies “when it has a good faith belief it is legally obligated to do so.” But with regard to the fake profile of the prince, “Facebook has shared no such information with the Moroccan authorities,” she said.
Hopefully, this is true. The fact that it took repeated calls by a reporter for one of the world’s most important newspapers to elicit this sliver of a reaction beyond their constant boilerplate is unfortunate. Equally unfortunate is the fact that a company valued by most at just under $2 billion (and by a few as high as $15 billion), invented in the free speech environment of a U.S. university, is unwilling to stand up and unequivocally declare itself in favor of free speech and in opposition to disproportionate sentencing designed not to punish a law breaker but to cow an entire populace.
Given Facebook’s tendency toward closed-mouthedness and its unwillingness to declare for free speech, it will be impossible to take its denial at face value until and unless the means of discovering Mourtada’s identity becomes public.
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