Podcast: How Facebook’s Enforces The Policy Of ‘Post No Evil’

Not long ago, Radiolab, WNYC Studios' innovative radio show and a podcast that is downloaded over nine million times each month, has pivoted its focus on science toward broader political, economic and social issues, sometimes taking a dive into technology topics too. Its latest episode, for example, focuses on Facebook's content removal policies, tracing how they have changed over time.

This detailed and captivating one-hour show goes back to 2008 when Facebook's moderation guidelines filled just one page. But as the company grew, keeping the social network clean of hateful and offensive posts became increasingly complicated, thus calling for a consistent rulebook that could be applied to any content in any part of the world.

"Facebook is now sort of a playground, it's also an R-rated movie theater, and now it's the front page of a newspaper. It's all those things at the same time and what we, the users, are demanding of them is that they create a set of policies that are just," says Simon Adler, producer at RadioLab.

Unfortunately, as we find out, justice and fairness are not easy to define. Using an example-based approach, Radiolab takes us through different incidents that forced the social media giant to amend its patchwork of rules over the years, from a 2008 protest of breastfeeding women to a 2013 ban of a video showing a woman being beheaded in Mexico. Even Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of product policy, admits in the show that "no matter where we draw [the] line, there are always going to be outcomes we don't like."

Radiolab's rich historical overview, together with thoughtful storytelling and a plethora of different actors — from an offshore Facebook contractor to a comedian affected by the company's hate speech guidelines — make this episode a top-notch pick for any podcast enthusiasts.