Censored on Facebook? The Nerd Reich's Meta Mystery
The Point: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, blocked users from sharing posts from The Nerd Reich last month. At first, I assumed it to be a simple error. This week, a customer service agent from Meta Support provide another explanation:
Upon checking, this site focuses on political commentary, particularly involving Silicon Valley tech billionaires and their influence on politics. There are several reasons why a website might be blocked.
1. Content Sensitivity: The site addresses topics like the "Network State" concept and critiques of tech industry figures. Some networks or platforms may flag such content as sensitive or controversial, leading to restrictions.
2. Regional Restrictions: Depending on the country or region, certain political content might be subject to censorship or blocking.
Is Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, which purports to be a bastion of free speech, censoring criticism of tech zillionaires and their dreams of government control?
The Back Story: A few weeks ago, a number of readers informed me that Facebook had barred them from posting links to The Nerd Reich newsletter. To be honest, I didn't think much of it at the time. I assumed there might be some kind of problem with the website, since I set it up myself and am hardly a website expert. After a few failed attempts to reach a live person at Meta, the issue fell by the wayside.
Last week, I hired a web expert to check out The Nerd Reich site. He found no problems, so I emailed Meta support. That's when I got the surprising news that The Nerd Reich had apparently been restricted because of the subjects it covers.
Taylor Lorenz has the story at User Magazine:
For weeks, Meta restricted the distribution journalist Gil Duran’s coverage of Elon Musk’s government takeover, preventing users from accessing and distributing an article published to his website and newsletter titled Memo: Capture of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by Neoreactionaries, by marking the article as spam.
The article details how a memo produced by a group of anonymous researchers does a good job of explaining Elon Musk’s “stunning takeover of the U.S. government” and how such a takeover is in line with Silicon Valley’s broader goals of establishing a “Network State.”
The Network State movement is a well-funded effort by Silicon Valley billionaires, including Marc Andreessen and Sam Altman, that seeks to create tech-controlled governments around the world. It’s a new, corporation-driven model of government, which does not function according to the laws of the U.S. or other nations. Instead of a government, citizens are controlled by a corporation, which can evade regulations, democracy, and laws.
For the full story, click below. It's paywalled, but Lorenz's work is worth supporting.
Meta told Lorenz that the restrictions on The Nerd Reich were a "mistake" and that the Meta Support employee "misspoke" when they said the site was restricted due to the topics it covers. Here's what Meta told Lorenz:
Mr. Duran should never have received this response since it is factually inaccurate and does not reflect Meta's policies. This URL was mistaken as spam by our systems but has now been restored.
I'm not sure I buy this explanation. The Meta Support employee was very specific about why my work was restricted. In fact, when I protested the reasons and explained that I'm a journalist, the Meta agent repeated the explanation and made it seem as if the decision was final.
Why would they say such a thing if it wasn't true? What were they looking at that told them to say this? Most newspapers won't even mention the Network State, but somehow a Meta Support employee was under the impression that it was too controversial for Facebook? A site notorious for mass disinformation and spam?
In fact, Meta recently claimed it was scaling back fact-checking and content moderation and would allow more harmful content to appear on the site. How does this policy fit with throttling traffic to a newsletter on tech politics?
And here's the weirdest part: While assuring journalists that The Nerd Reich was banned by mistake, Meta has yet to inform me of any of this. Meta Support still has not given me any indication that the ban on my content had been lifted. Here's what they wrote me on Tuesday:
Rest assured that our team is actively investigating your concern and working to find a resolution as quickly as possible. We understand how important it is to address this matter promptly, and we are committed to providing you with the best possible solution.
As of this morning, they still haven't given an update. It seems Meta is more concerned about PR than customer service. Imagine that.
Analysis: I don't use Facebook often. However, there's still a good number of readers who consider it their main social media platform. I hope that will change one day, as Facebook has done a tremendous amount of harm in the world. Plus, Zuckerberg has spent the last year transitioning into a pro-MAGA, right-wing figure.
In the past few months, we've seen plenty of tech plutocrats start restricting what kinds of speech can appear on the platforms they own. While paying lip service to "free speech," the billionaires really only believe in "ME speech" – speech that agrees with their beliefs.
Conclusion: I'll be honest: I thought some readers were overreacting a few weeks ago when they suggested Meta was restricting The Nerd Reich. It turns out they were right! I'll pay closer attention next time. I'm hesitant to post on Meta platforms, but I also understand the importance of reaching readers where they are. Now, I'm seriously tempted to post on Facebook and Instagram as an act of pure rebellion. We'll see.
Oh, and here's the post that caused all of the trouble:
The Nerd Reich Meets Gaslit Nation
Earlier this week, I did an hourlong interview with Andrea Chalupa of the popular Gaslit Nation podcast. Listen below:
More to come – soon!