Facebook admitted last Tuesday (17) that it erased several publications about the coronavirus by mistake. An error in the network's automatic rating system classified posts that shared information from legitimate sources, including press vehicles, as spam. Originally, the mechanism should only serve as a brake on the spread of false news about the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the company, the deleted posts have already been restored.
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Users in the USA complained on Twitter that posts containing links to recognized sites like BuzzFeed and USA Today were being suspended, followed by a notification with the message This publication violates our Community Standards on spam. O dnetc had access to a post with a BBC link about the coronavirus that was marked as spam on Tuesday (17), but already appears again in the feed.
Legitimate posts were mistakenly marked as spam by Facebook Photo: Paulo Alves / dnetc
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After a shower of complaints on Twitter, Facebook's security chief, Guy Rosen, used his personal microblog account to explain the bug and ensure that the removed posts had already been put back on the air.
See also: how to delete or archive multiple Facebook posts at once
How to delete or archive multiple Facebook posts at once
We restore all posts that have been removed incorrectly, including posts on all subjects, not just those related to COVID-19. This was a problem with an automated system that removes links to abusive sites, but incorrectly removed many other posts, explained the executive.
Weve restored all the posts that were incorrectly removed, which included posts on all topics – not just those related to COVID-19. This was an issue with an automated system that removes links to abusive websites, but incorrectly removed a lot of other posts too.
– March 18, 2020
Users affected by the bug need not do anything. If any post was deleted incorrectly due to the problem with Facebook's antispam tool, it should appear again automatically. Therefore, the notification advising about the removal of the content should be ignored.
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