Facebook’s selective censors

Excerpted from James Freeman’s Best of the Web daily online feature for The Wall Street Journal last Friday.

Facebook says it accidentally silenced a pro-life organization’s advertising on the social network. But the pro-life group says this alleged accident has been happening over and over again.

Also happening again is the spectacle of a Silicon Valley social media giant, which is happy to tell advertisers how efficiently and precisely it can deliver marketing messages, explaining that somehow it still can’t figure out how to allow the transmission of a political ad from a longtime participant in the national debate.

Joel Ebert of the Nashville Tennessean reported on Thursday:

A national organization backing U.S. Senate nominee Marsha Blackburn’s campaign claimed Thursday that Facebook was censoring an ad supporting the Tennessee Republican.

Susan B. Anthony List, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit aimed at ending abortion in the United States, said on Twitter that Facebook had banned a new 30-second ad.

The ad raises questions about Blackburn’s opponent, Democrat Phil Bredesen, and his views on abortion.

A spokesperson for Facebook told the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee that the ad was accidentally taken down and has since been restored.

“This ad does not violate Facebook’s policies and should never have been disapproved,” the spokesperson said. “We’re sorry for this mistake — the ad has been restored and is now running on Facebook.”

It’s of course wonderful to hear that the company is trying to be the neutral communications platform it claims to be. But how hard is it trying? Just hours after the report in the Tennessean included Facebook’s earnest-sounding apology, Susan B. Anthony List said on Twitter that another of its ads was being blocked by Facebook— this one related to another close Senate contest in Montana.

Last night, Fox News reported another apology from Facebook. Whether this latest message of regret was generated by a human or an algorithm remains unclear. …

For those wondering about Facebook’s sincerity or technical competence, Susan B. Anthony List has been around since 1992 and some versions of the blocked ads have been on television for years.