(Tea Party 247) – You may have seen a lot of people claiming to be censored on Facebook for some of the most innocuous posts about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The tech giant claims that it was a “bug in an anti-spam system” that was to blame for the erroneously flagged posts.
On Tuesday evening, the Verge reported that information began to circulate on social media that the monster social media giant had been labeling some posts and articles about the coronavirus as spam, even when articles were inarguably legitimate and accurate.
The spam label drastically reduces the number of engagements that a post gets, in some cases even making them dramatically disappear.
Twitter users pointed out the unfair post flags:
.@Facebook your review system is broken AF — This is the 3rd in two weeks "GOES AGAINST OUR COMMUNITY STANDARDS" for a share from a known publication.
Like this one? An @Upworthy post about #GenX w the Breakfast Club movie as the photo? WT? And the others are about the same. pic.twitter.com/CL1jRSz5uO
— Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) March 17, 2020
.@Facebook — Oh wow and then three in a row !
How is @TomHanks being okay be SPAM? And again this is from @Upworthy not exactly a new publication. All I did was share it. pic.twitter.com/SYhYknzJ9Z
— Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) March 17, 2020
Everyone else having pandemic response-themed posts getting flagged as spam and pulled from Facebook?
— Benjamin Lamb (@blammo70) March 17, 2020
Seems @Facebook needs to revisit how they classify spam during a pandemic pic.twitter.com/OdcQ5tZEGW
— Ali Eslami (@CTOJoffrey) March 17, 2020
Incredible. @Facebook said my post of this Dallas Morning News article highlighting that two people in their 20s and 30s are in critical care in Dallas County and that young people aren’t invincible went against their guidelines and was removed.https://t.co/HqoIdzzcSi
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) March 17, 2020
According to Guy Rosen, the vice president of integrity for Facebook, the issue was caused by what he claimed was a “bug in an anti-spam system” and that the company had begun to tackle the problem Tuesday.
Rosen tweeted these comments in a reply to former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos.
It looks like an anti-spam rule at FB is going haywire. Facebook sent home content moderators yesterday, who generally can't WFH due to privacy commitments the company has made. We might be seeing the start of the ML going nuts with less human oversight. https://t.co/XCSz405wtR
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) March 17, 2020
We're on this – this is a bug in an anti-spam system, unrelated to any changes in our content moderator workforce. We're in the process of fixing and bringing all these posts back. More soon.
— Guy Rosen (@guyro) March 17, 2020
In another tweet, Rosen explained: “We’ve restored all the posts that were incorrectly removed, which included posts on all topics — not just those related to COVID-19. This was an issue with an automated system that removes links to abusive websites, but incorrectly removed a lot of other posts too.”
Earlier this week, it was reported that multiple Silicon Valley tech firms stated to be working to combat false information surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
A joint statement from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube reads:
We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts. We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world. We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe.
It doesn’t really help to combat false information when their own tools are censoring factual news?
Why read news on Facebook?That is one of the last Communists to post REAL TRUTH in news or anything.I dumped facebook long time ago,only repost TRUE articles
I call bullshit…this is why I left facebullshit years ago
Comments which undercut “Mandated Covid Hysteria” demanded by the minority view of the MSM are not permitted, Are face book users that numb to the Management demands of Mendacious Mark Zuckerberg. It’s all about “little Man Mark using his power to bully the end to free speech.
Control the media control the content!
So now the call the moderators BUGS! LOL
Denise Porter : There is very little (if any !) of what you said, with which I might hesitate to agree. Thank you for putting truth out into the open view of those WILLING to see it. In Romans Chapter 1 we read that when the creature (human) exchanges the truth of God for a lie (the ideas pushed toward us by Satan -the devil) and worships creatures instead of worshiping God ; then God abandons that person to his/her own reprobate mind. In other words, that person’s help from God to have good cognizant processes of thinking is withdrawn. The person then is a bit disabled from reasonable thinking !!! Read that first chapter of Romans, and get the exact wording of it. You will recognize some misbehaviors which we see in some of our fellow humans, and you will see what God said about such things, regarding consequences which He will apply !!!
There are other sites out there that allow people to speak. Conservatives and Christians need to leave facebook for good and never look back, imo.
what sites are those?
Don’t believe anything they say ~ it’s always a coverup for their unfair actions ..
Seems the leftist FB dictators in their constant drive to silence conservative voices, actually overstepped and got hammered for it by the rabid leftists that simply hate censorship! Hypocrites!!!
If people don’t believe there is such a thing as truth, how can they complain when their relativity bites them in the butt proving them wrong? Self-deifying relativists and idolatrous superstitious mystics are just pots calling the kettle black, they are drowning people trying to save the drowning, the blind leading the blind. God and truth are not welcome on facebook and haven’t been for some time. Those who think they’re not are as deceived as they are. Pursue truth and Facebook will shut you down…..along with all the other idolatrous religious humanist phonies with their self-righteous folly….but if you do it anyways then you will find the truth that sets men free & with the God of Truth eternity is yours & death has lost its sting. Let the lost & deceived scramble for their piece of this temporal that’s going to burn in the end anyways & don’t let them take you captive by their lies and impure spirit. The task of the Christian is to warn and point souls to truth….but if they don’t want & refuse it? Or willfully turn from and obstruct truth and justice in order to serve their flesh and the father of lies and spirit of antichrist they’ve freely chosen….then it’s out of our hands & in God’s, and He will judge. Vengeance is his, though he’s patient and long-suffering for the time being for the sake of those yet to acknowledge truth, repent & come into fellowship with him. Are you ready for that? or do you self-justify & compromise to evil & lies for a piece of what was foretold long ago and which is soon gonna burn? I’m not talking of men who can destroy the body but then do nothing more, I’m talking about God who can destroy both body and soul in Hell. Choose wisely.
Amen on that. The truth never hurt anyone that has asked Christ into their heart. You have to remember facebook is very liberal and anti God.