Well, I haven’t been posting much here lately and most of my thoughts and rants have been going on Facebook.
They make it so easy, so seductive, to just put a short couple paragraphs or just a comment on someone else’s thoughts. It becomes too easy to spend time there.
But, once again, I’m in Facebook jail.
I don’t know why. They say I posted something that violated “community standards.” They gave me no details and I don’t remember what it may have been. Just suddenly, I can’t post anything. I can’t leave a comment. I can’t even like a photo of a furry cat.
I dug around and found – with some difficulty – a reference to their deleting a post.
I can’t tell from the little thumbnails what it was, or what about it they didn’t like. I have a “Page” where I post things. Things about Trump, our government, and politics. I started the page so I could keep those things off my personal timeline and let only those who want to read them see them. I was being considerate to those who might be offended by anything critical of our illegitimate president.
And, ordinarily, I avoid anything offensive. I lean towards the ironic, humorous, or satirical commentary.
95% of what I post is graphics – cartoons, memes, photos, and articles from major news sources. I mostly “share” not “create.”
And, yes, it’s mostly anti-Trump, anti-conservative, anti-GOP, etc. because, well, how can any moral, thinking person not be?
So, I am in the corner, getting a three-day time out from Facebook. Like that is supposed to teach me a lesson, whereas not telling me what the offense is does…
My experience with these things (I have known others who have also suffered the same fate) is that you usually get these things as a response to someone’s complaint. They are either processed by some algorithm or some person who reviews hundreds per hour. No deep thought is put into it. And there is no way to get a meaningful review. You can click a box that asks them to look into it, but I have not received a response.
From the thumbnails, I can tell it was a cartoon. That’s about all. I routinely download and keep the images I post, rather than just hit share. I do that because I want to break the chain of “So and so shared so and so’s post where they shared so and so’s…” I also sometimes copy and paste commentary along with it that I think the person may not want to have attributed to them. Public figures, I quote with full attribution, I spare the average friend.
So I checked through my collected images and did not find that one. It doesn’t mean it didn’t come from me, but it’s odd that I did not keep a copy. It might be left on a different computer that I don’t normally use. I only checked my laptop and phone. You can bet, if I do find it, I will post it here!
And, I did. I could not find it on any of my computers, but a couple of them have been reworked recently and may have been erased. But with a little Google-Fu and some help from Tineye, I found it.
That’s it. That’s the “offensive” post. I vaguely remember it. It was quite a while ago, so either they dug deep, or someone is going around looking for that particular picture.
This photo was found many times on Twitter. It was on Reddit. It was on Instagram and Pinterest, so it clearly doesn’t cross any lines for most places. It was totally used to target my account. There was also a version of it with a ghostly figure, possibly Jesus, leaning over 45.
So, I supposedly “violated community standards” by posting a graphic that came from the community. Hmmm…
Looking at the timing of it, where we are in the middle of the peak of the Trump impeachment Senate hearings, one has to wonder if it isn’t part of an organized strategy to use Facebook’s’ policies against anyone openly critical of him? Right now, silencing a bunch of his critics for three days without any hearing or recourse, would be huge. You almost wonder if it’s not a new wave of Russian hackers turning to suppressing criticism instead of posting pro-Trump propaganda?
I don’t flatter myself to think that I am that important, or widely influential to garner special attention. So, the explanation of a widespread organized process makes more sense. I just got caught up in it.
So, Facebook put me and possibly many others in Facebook Jail. I’ll live. Actually a three day break will do me good. After all, it got me back to my long neglected blog…
After clicking every time a box popped up to ask for a review, they restored the post. As of Sunday morning, I was allowed back on FB.
Facebook encourages you to make your own “Page” for any topic. You do and then create your own “Community.” You set the tone for what is posted on that page and no one is forced to see it, except those who want to.
How can anything then go against “Community Standards?” You created the community. I can see rules against things that are untrue, or libelous, or an attack on a private person, but opinion and commentary on a political figure of our time, should not be censored. Especially, when it came from a larger community where it was merely reposted.
As I said, this image was found all over the internet. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Pinterest!
We have the right to criticize our government when it’s due. You could even say a duty. Facebook shouldn’t get in the way of that.
On further contemplation, I think this is the online equivalent of swatting. You know, where someone calls 911 and gives them your address, tells them some outrageous story, and next thing you know, the police are busting down your door.
In this case, it’s someone taking a dislike to something you posted, they report it to Facebook and say it’s hate speech or something else, and the algorithms at FB block you. It then takes a while to get a human to review your appeal and rescind it. By then, you’ve been shut down almost as long as they dinged you with in the first place.
It’s a 50-50 chance it was just some PC polyanna that ventured across my post, or part of an organized effort by a group – Russian hackers, maybe?