Non-profit media that published critical columns on Facebook was blocked, Meta explains that it was a 'security error'

When Kansas Reflector , a non-profit media outlet in Kansas, USA, published a column critical of Facebook, links to Kansas Reflector were blocked for several hours on Facebook and other Meta-owned social media sites. After that, the block on Kansas Reflector was lifted, but criticism of Meta has been raised.

Facebook has blocked Kansas Reflector. Here's what we're doing, and how you can help. • Kansas Reflector
https://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/04/facebook-has-blocked-kansas-reflector-heres-what-were-doing-and-how-you-can-help/

Meta is accused of censoring a non-profit newspaper and an independent journalist who criticized the company | CNN Business
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/05/tech/meta-nonprofit-newspaper-independent-journalist-alleged-censorship/

Meta briefly blocked a local news organization critical of Facebook | Mashable
https://mashable.com/article/meta-block-kansas-reflector

On April 4, 2024 local time, the Kansas Reflector published a column stating that 'when we tried to advertise a documentary film about climate change on Facebook, the ad was rejected for not complying with the social issues, elections and politics ads policy .' The column argues that the importance of local media will increase as Facebook and its parent company Meta restrict content such as climate change, which has a negative impact on democracy.

Between 8:20 and 8:50 on April 4th, after this column was published, Facebook flagged links to the Kansas Reflector website as a 'cybersecurity threat' and removed posts containing the links, affecting not only the Kansas Reflector Facebook page, but also the pages of other users who shared the links.

Kansas Reflector was inundated with reports from many readers that their posts had been removed and questions about why links to Kansas Reflector were flagged as a 'cybersecurity threat.' In response, Kansas Reflector explained, 'We have not been hacked and our website does not pose a cybersecurity threat. You and your devices are safe while reading or sharing on our website.'

About seven hours after it was reported that links to Kansas Reflector had been blocked, the block was finally lifted on platforms such as Facebook. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the issue on X (formerly Twitter), saying, 'This was an error completely unrelated to Kansas Reflector's criticism of Meta, and the error has since been retracted. We apologize to Kansas Reflector and its readers for this error.'

This was an error that had nothing to do with the Reflector's recent criticism of Meta. It has since been reversed and we apologize to the Reflector and its readers for the mistake.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) April 4, 2024

After that, on April 5, the day after the problem occurred, freelance journalist Marisa Kavas tried to repost the column in question on her blog, The Handbasket , with permission from Kansas Reflector, under the title ' Here's the column Meta doesn't want you to see .' As a result, The Handbasket was also blocked on the Meta platform.

'I thought this was a cool experiment,' Kabas told CNN. 'A few minutes after posting, I got an alert that it had been flagged as malicious content and removed.' Kabas' blog was blocked for about two hours, but was restored within five days.

Stone again wrote in a post to X that 'a security error caused links to Kansas Reflector to be blocked for a period of time. The same security failure also caused links to News from the States and The Handbasket to be blocked,' claiming that the whole incident was a mistake.

Due to a security error, links to the @KansasReflector were blocked for a period of time. The same security mistake prompted the blocking of links to @statesnewsroom and The Handbasket/ @marisakabas2 . https://t.co/y1jgkNjPt3

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) April 5, 2024

Additionally, Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post to Bluesky, 'We believe several domains, including thehandbasket.co, were incorrectly classified as phishing sites but have since been corrected as Andy mentioned. Unfortunately, with safety measures at our scale, false positives will always occur and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.'

Kansas Reflector contacted Meta, but was unable to receive a detailed explanation of how the mistake occurred, and Kabas said he has not received a direct apology from Meta. Kabas argued that from this experience, platforms need diversity and that platforms with communities that value freedom of the press, such as Bluesky, are important. He also argued that the importance of independent media such as Kansas Reflector and The Handbasket, which are not controlled by large corporations, is increasing.