How to Stay Out of Facebook Jail
Recently Bob saw a post comparing album covers (see below) of Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Luther Vandross & Teddy Pendergrass and immediately thought about the old Playboy centerfold of Burt Reynolds on a bare skin rug and decided to post the photo of Burt in the comments.
Immediately after hitting the submit button, Bob was informed that the Burt photo was against Facebook’s “Community Standards” and was blocked from posting on Facebook for the next three days (aka he went to “Facebook Jail.”
Here is the photo of Burt with the notification:
The photo doesn’t show any nudity and this photo has been used on television, in ads, and in social media plenty of times, but now it is deemed inappropriate and against their community standards. What is so scary is that this photo wasn’t reported by anyone, it wasn’t flagged by a nudity searching bot, it was immediately flagged, the moment Bob pressed submit.
Facebook gives you options to dispute your banned comment or photo, but it is useless and in some cases, by disputing their decision, you can possibly get banned more by not accepting their decision. Gee, thanks Facebook 🙄.
Here are just a few examples of things that will put you in Facebook Jail when commenting or posting:
Men/Women are. . . surprisingly, this will trigger a ban regardless of what you post afterward. Do not describe men or women as “anything”
White or the word “Trash” combined with color descriptions.
Dumb (Sexual orientation) Do not add “gay” “lesbian” “trans” to any post with a derogatory adjective. In fact, if you use LGBTQ terms, in a negative way, they are grounds to get a warning. I’m OK with this, but the issue with this is that people who identify as gay themselves are being banned for describing their own gay friends as “dumb”. Also “Gay men/women are. . . “ see above.
Boys/Girls. . . (derogatory adjective)
Evil (Christians/Muslims/Hindus, or any religious organization)
Use of the word “Crazy” Even if describing your friend jokingly as “Crazy”
Anything with “Covid-19” may spark a warning and flag for “fake news” or the use of the word “Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin.”
the use of the word “Nazi” especially in the context of photos of Nazis and other World War II posts. Mentioning “Hitler” will also cause a problem.
Calling someone a “racist”, is a 50/50 split. You can be banned for the context of the use of the term. But the bot is indiscriminate.
and of course, No Nudity. You used to be able to show butt cracks, but no more. You can show male nipples, but not female nipples.
This is just the tip of the iceberg (just the tip!), there are many other ways you can get banned or at least ride it out in Facebook Jail for a while. The truth is, Facebook’s Community Standards are vague and they change all the time. What is OK today, might not be OK tomorrow (aka butt cracks) and that is a bigger issue because Facebook is going back months and even years searching all of your old posts and comments and they can serve up bans for things you said years ago and photos that you posted that were OK back then but are against today’s “Community Standards”.
So what is the answer? Move everything to Instagram? No, Facebook owns that too.
Join MEWE? Twitter? Minds, Vero, Parler (yes, it’s back now)?
Am I going to put in a shameless plug for our Naughty Members site, where we don’t censor content and we encourage sexy photos? No.
I have a better idea… I’m just going to set my phone down for a little bit and enjoy a day off from my social media accounts (especially Facebook!). Hello world, it’s nice to see you again through wide eyes, not through my 5.5” LCD screen.
