More incarcerated people may get access to Facebook as the social media giant begins to change how it views prisoners, reports The Daily Beast. Among other things, Facebook will no longer pull down a prisoner's Facebook profile simply because prison officials ask. “Facebook did recently adjust their procedures,” says Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties nonprofit. “They're now asking at least very basic questions of the prison before they take a prisoner's page down—such as, ‘What exactly is the inmate doing that’s so dangerous?”
A Facebook spokesperson adds in an emailed statement: “We work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or a direct threat to public safety.” For years, Facebook has been willing to take down almost any account a prison official asked them to–no questions asked. After pressure from Maass’ group, each account will now be subject to more scrutiny than simply complying with requests from prison administrators.