Why did Facebook block “this cannot be fake” comment?

This week, Facebook curiously blocked anyone typing in the phrase “this cannot be fake” into the comments section of any post on the social networking website.

Those who tried got the following warning –

It seems pretty strange, but why does Facebook have an issue with this seemingly innocuous phrase?

It’s certainly worth noting that this isn’t the first time Facebook have blocked users from posting a small phrase. In October 2015, the phrase “Everyone Will Know” got curiously blocked for a number of hours.

The reason why this happens is likely the same in both instances, and it’s down to Facebook’s spam filters going awry. Back in 2015, Facebook claimed they accidentally blocked the phrase as a mistake. They said –

This was a mistake with our spam filter and our engineers have resolved the issue. We’re constantly updating the rules used by our spam-fighting engine, and this particular phrase erroneously got caught in the mix.

This seemed the most likely explanation back then and is most likely the same reason this time around.

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So why are the spam filters picking up on very specific phrases?

Spam plagues Facebook every day, and Facebook’s filters are constantly on the lookout for it. Spam often goes viral across the site, and if one particular spam campaign becomes prolific (and is widely reported as spam by Facebook’s member base) then it is likely that Facebook will attempt to block any content being posted to the site that bears a resemblance to it. If that spam campaign contained a specific phrase, Facebook’s filters may temporarily block that phrase, believing it is part of the spam campaign.

Additionally, given that messages claiming the phrase “this cannot be fake” is blocked by Facebook became popular, it is likely that many people attempting to post that exact phrase, just adding to the confusion for those spam filters.

Alas Facebook have now fixed the glitch and you can now post the phrase as before.