[Linux-aus] Facebook removing Linux discussions as security threats

[Kim Holburn]

https://boingboing.net/2025/01/27/facebook-marking-linux-discussion-as-security-threats.html



Mark Zuckerberg recently struck a new pose in hopes of pleasing President Trump, saying Meta would no longer check facts or censor 
free speech, and blaming other executives for previous policies at the company he runs. Since then, however, the company has 
struggled to explain why it was hiding search results for left-wing political topics—and now users are complaining it categorizes 
some posts about Linux as malware.

  >   Starting on January 19, 2025 Facebook's internal policy makers decided that Linux is malware and labelled groups associated 
with Linux as being "cybersecurity threats". Any posts mentioning DistroWatch and multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux 
discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed.

 >    We've been hearing all week from readers who say they can no longer post about Linux on Facebook or share links to 
DistroWatch. Some people have reported their accounts have been locked or limited for posting about Linux. …Unfortunately, there 
isn't anything we can do about this, apart from advising people to get their Linux-related information from sources other than 
Facebook. I've tried to appeal the ban and was told the next day that Linux-related material is staying on the cybersecurity filter. 
My Facebook account was also locked for my efforts.

If there's no obvious bias to these content removals, that things are disappearing from Facebook in odd and changing ways 
contradicts the rhetoric about less censorship. If anything, it suggests that the platform is experimenting with new controls on 
what users can discuss and share.

Facebook uses Linux extensively, of course.

 >  Facebook's overzealous ban on some Linux topics in the name of Community Standards and its protection of its users from threats 
come with a large ladle full of irony. "Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux," DistroWatch points out, "and often posts 
job ads looking for Linux developers."

Hacker News users seem to be having some success replicating the problem.

 >    I do confirm that i explicitly tested this with my super unused facebook account, just stating that i was testing restrictions 
on talking about Linux, the text was: """I don't often (or ever) post anything on Facebook, but when I do, it's to check if they 
really, as announced on hckrnews, are restricting discussing Linux. So here's a few links to trigger that: 
https://www.qubes-os.org/downloads/ … https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/""" and indeed within seconds I got the following 
warning: """ We removed your post The post may use misleading links or content to trick people to visit, or stay on, a website. """. 
This is one massive wow considering how much Facebook runs on Linux.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
+61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request