Facebook is believed to be working on censorship tools to placate China's censorship authorities. The world's leading social networking site is looking to make a comeback to the most populous nation on the earth. The tool is expected to hide certain posts from appearing on a users' feeds in some geographic areas.
According to the New York Times, the tool has become a cause of controversy in Facebook as "several employees" quit to protest such censorship. Facebook was banned in China in 2009. Since then, Facebook has endeavored to return to the country to take advantage of its huge population.
This is not the first time Facebook has resorted to such measures. Earlier, it had taken down posts in several countries such as Russia, Turkey, and Pakistan. However, the new tool will prevent such posts from surfacing on the feed in the first place. It is likely that Facebook will outsource such censorship duties to an outside company.
The news surfaces at the time when Facebook is embroiled in fake news controversy. The company is being accused of being complacent as it refuses to employ editorial standards to the news published on its platform. Earlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "I want what we do to have a good impact on the world. I want people to have a diversity of information."
Facebook is likely taking a multi-pronged approach towards China by building a censorship tool. A Facebook spokesperson told The Verge that "We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country. However, we have not made any decision on our approach to China."
The new Facebook censorship tool is currently available only internally and has not been presented to the Chinese government yet.