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

[Stephen Dalton]

I've been off Facebook now since the original quit Facebook day. I strongly
recommend it to get your life back! I keep in touch with family and friends
through private whatsapp/signal chat groups and actually calling people up
on the phone... Old skool!

To the original topic, it's worrying. These big companies now have
tremendous power. They need our help to make them into smaller companies!

Steve




On Wed, 29 Jan 2025, 12:19 pm Arjen Lentz via linux-aus, <
linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au> wrote:

> Sounds like another fine reason to not use Facebook. Excellent
> encouragement.
> Go forth.
>
>
> On January 28, 2025 3:23:47 PM GMT+10:00, Kim Holburn via linux-aus <
> linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
> Message protected by MailGuard: e-mail anti-virus, anti-spam and content
> filtering.
> https://www.mailguard.com.au/mg
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> linux-aus mailing list
> linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au
> https://lists.linux.org.au/mailman/listinfo/linux-aus
>
> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to
> linux-aus-unsubscribe at lists.linux.org.au
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linux.org.au/pipermail/linux-aus/attachments/20250131/1692b497/attachment.htm>