Facebook Is Broken

Facebook is broken. If you've spent any time on their platform, you know that things can get ugly in the comments. Many times things are said that cross the line. In those cases restricting the offender's accounts can help prevent them from going overboard in the future. However, ever since March most Facebook staff have been working from home because of the Coronavirus pandemic, and content moderation had become nearly 100% automated. This automation has led to many mistakes because Facebook's moderation algorithm has little inability to interpret nuance. Back in March, I earned my 7-day "hate speech" restriction for saying that "Americans are so dumb", which in the context of the post I was commenting on seemed very appropriate to me at the time.

Anyway, lesson learned. I did not want to be accused of hate speech so I made a point not to call any nationality "dumb" going forward.

However, on December 14th I was given another 30-day restriction for "hate speech" but was not even told what comment or post was at issue. Also, unlike in the previous situation, I was not even given the opportunity to appeal.

In fact, this is the second time since October 1st that I was given a 30-day restriction without any explanation as to the specific reason. That was the day that I received a notification out of the blue that my 30-day restriction was being "removed" (I was not restricted at that time, but I had been restricted for most of August because I told an anti-masker that I felt sorry for her family). That first notification on the evening of October 1st was shortly followed by a new 30-day restriction for the entire month of October, without any explanation.

How can a Facebook user follow the community standards on "hate speech" or anything else if they are not even told what they said that was in violation?

Because I am the owner of a business that runs ads on Facebook I reached out to their concierge support. They were useless as usual. This is part of the response I received related to my Case ID 4869812146425669:

"We can't provide additional details on the rate limits that are enforced. I understand that you wanted to know the specific reason as the limit was placed on the account. We are not releasing more specific guidelines because we don't want people to use these to continue taking advantage of the feature. Please understand that we are also limited by the information being provided to us and we do not wish to set false expectations."

Rate limits on hate speech? Really? This is not the kind of support Facebook users should accept.

Unfortunately, my business requires that I have a presence on Facebook. I don't mind abiding by their rules, as long as those rules are clearly stated and not arbitrarily enforced.

Have you been restricted by Facebook for no reason, or for a weak reason in the past? Now is the time to speak out. I have posted on LinkedIn and Twitter about this issue and tagged people that work at Facebook. Some have reached out to me to express their concern and offer to help. Facebook can be held accountable in a number of ways, from government oversite and regulations, to economically by reducing or cutting off the time you spend on their platform. I for one highly recommend TikTok going forward.

As Facebook becomes a more restrictive place, what platforms are you gravitating towards?