Facebook hit by civil rights grievances

It's been a tough week for Facebook when it comes to civil rights allegations against the world's largest social network.

First, the news site ProPublica alleged that Facebook was enabling advertisers to exclude users based on race.

Now Facebook is dealing with an open letter from 73 civil rights organizations to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg who say they are "deeply concerned" about cases where Facebook allegedly censored posts about possible human rights violations -- particularly postings about police violence.

"It is critical that Facebook be a platform that supports the protection of human rights above all else and does not discriminately apply its policies on the basis of race, creed, national origin, gender, and/or sexual orientation," wrote organizations like the Center for Media Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra Club and 350.org. "When the most vulnerable members of society turn to your platform to document and share experiences of injustice, Facebook is morally obligated to protect that speech."

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