Facebook has begun removing three particular images related to St. George’s Day from their platform and has placed restrictions on the users who have previously posted the images.
Article updated to reflect response from Facebook.
Article updated to reflect that three, not two, images are being removed.
On Saturday, countless Facebook users have reported being notified that they have had various restrictions placed on their accounts for posting one of three images (below) related to St. George’s Day, despite many of these users publishing such posts years ago.
To be clear, this should not be confused with a years old rumour that Facebook is removing images related to St. George’s because it “offends minorities” that we have previously debunked here.
Users have reported that they have been banned from using Facebook Live for 30 days, while others have reported having their commenting and posting abilities revoked.
When Facebook removes a post from their platform, they often give the user a chance to appeal the decision, but users have reported seeing a message claiming that due to COVID-19, the user is not able to appeal.
We usually offer the chance to request a review, and follow up if we got decisions wrong.
We have fewer reviewers available at the moment because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We’re trying hard to prioritise reviewing content with the most potential for harm.
This means we may not be able to follow up with you, but your feedback will help us do better in the future.
The fact that it appears to be affecting only specifically three images indicates that this is a glitch affecting Facebook’s technologies that the social networking site has developed to automatically identify specific images and prevent them from appearing on their platform.
This was confirmed when a Facebook company spokesperson responded to our request for comment.
We’re investigating what happened.
Our team reviews millions of pages, posts and images each week and we occasionally make a mistake, as has likely happened here. We have removed any restrictions placed on the impacted accounts. We apologise for any upset caused.
Many users have speculated that Facebook wants to remove “St. George’s Day” from their platform, or that the social networking platform associated images related to the St. George’s flag with racism.
However, that was not likely the case since Facebook actively promotes St. George’s Day on their platform. For example, in 2017, Facebook greeted their users with St. George imagery and wished people from England a happy St. George’s Day. Similar messages have accompanied St. George’s Day in 2018 and 2019.