Nearly 80 rights groups on Wednesday accused Facebook (FB.O) of "racially biased censorship" and failing to be more transparent about its removal policies and cooperation with law enforcement... The sharp rebuke, sent in response to a December letter from Senior Vice President Joel Kaplan, reflected increasing impatience among advocacy groups that say Facebook has inadequately addressed their concerns despite repeated promises of action... [The] groups wrote, Kaplan's response "merely explains current, publicly available Facebook policies and fails to address the modest solutions to racially biased censorship we presented in earlier letters and meetings." SumOfUs, [Color of Change,] Center for Media Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union were among the signatories.

In his letter, Kaplan acknowledged Facebook's community operations team "sometimes get things wrong" but said the company was committed to correcting mistakes and working with outside partners... Racial justice activists routinely have content that discusses racism or protests removed, [the groups] said, while harassment and threats targeting users on the basis of race, religion and sexual orientation are "thriving" on Facebook.

[full text of letter here]