My battle with Facebook’s algorithms

I’ve been a member of Facebook since 2008.  Since that time, it has gone from being a convenient place to share photos and life-updates to one of the world’s primary platforms for the spreading of misinformation and disinformation.  I am certain that is NOT what Mark Zuckerberg intended when he first cobbled it together in his Harvard dorm room. 

Over the past two years, I have created groups and posted content related to the 2020 election and its aftermath. It will surprise no one who reads this blog or who knows me personally that I was opposed to Donald Trump, and my group postings reflected that.  I also administrate several other groups on Facebook, including those related to Vladimir Horowitz and George Szell, and help moderate a few others.  

Soon after wandering into the virtual political arena, I detected a pattern in which certain words or images triggered Facebook’s algorithms and my posts were taken down – and on more than one occasion, I was blocked from posting or even “reacting”.  When I asked for arbitration, the decision was reversed – sometimes within a few minutes – and I was able to post again.  On Monday, I scheduled a post for Tuesday morning in one of my groups that contained the cartoon shown below (here at reduced quality for free-use purposes).

The cartoon above does not call into question the efficacy of vaccines.  It is not anti-vax.  It’s poking fun at those who cling to conspiracy nonsense as a justification to avoid taking the vaccine and wearing masks.  Frankly, I think half of them are just selfish and afraid of needles.

But FB’s bots found the scheduled item, claimed it was anti-vaccine misinformation, and sent me to FB jail – where I will remain until the “sentence” expires or is reversed.  In addition, previously scheduled posts in other groups unrelated to politics of any kind have also been held back.   

It seems Facebook’s programmers are content to penalize users who post items which do not violate their policies, but unwilling to do much about the pervasive and obvious fake accounts acting on behalf of hostile governments.  We are not merely talking about programing algorithms here, but about systemic bias.  It wasn’t until after he’d lost the election that Facebook began deleting some of Donald Trump’s more incendiary posts.  It was not until five people were killed in the Capitol insurrection, which Trump helped incite, that he was blocked from posting. 

At this point, I’m sure there are those who are asking “Why is Hank complaining?  Facebook is free!”  True, there is no charge.  But every time you scroll your feed and see a cleverly pointed advertisement, it’s taking up your time – even if it’s a few seconds – and time is not free. Further, the time I spend administering and moderating other groups – which help to keep those groups and Facebook civil – are in a very real way a service I am providing for free.   

I get it. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences, and the First Amendment doesn’t apply here because Facebook is not a government entity.  But this kind of constant fuck-uppery one sees from Facebook would never be permitted in a regulated business, like airlines or insurance.  When any entity has grown so large that it cannot adequately police itself, it needs to be regulated or even broken up.