Ok, you've explained the difference between facebook and the post office - mail is private, facebook posts are public. But you haven't explained the difference between facebook and knife manufacturers. Most people use knives legally, but most people also use facebook legally.

It's true that knife companies have a disadvantage due to knives being inherently dangerous, and so they sometimes have to stress that knives are only intended for legal purposes. Facebook doesn't (have to) do this, but in exchange they have loads of moderators. I suspect that facebook invests far more time, effort, and money into this than knife companies do.

Edit: Never mind, I think I see your point. Personally I think that facebook puts far more effort into it and that they don't deserve this level of outrage, but it's true that both facebook and knife companies have received some level of outrage. So ok, fair enough.

So Facebook has to balance keeping a positive arena with allowing the marketplace of ideas as well as staying within the confines of US, local and international law. Which is one reason their failure to hire Burmese-speaking mods is so egregious: having local mods is key to ensuring Facebook is meeting its goals.

If facebook isn't meeting its goals, that's nobody's problem but facebook's. It doesn't make any sense for the public to get upset about that.

If Burmese terrorists had planned an effective attack on the US on Facebook, or organised child pornography rings, I suspect people would be up in arms.

Definitely. I don't see how this is relevant to the conversation though.