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Facebook removing Linux discussions as security threats [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-01-27

Mark Zuckerberg recently struck a new pose in hopes of pleasing President Trump, saying Meta would no longer check facts or censor free speech, and blaming other executives for previous policies at the company he runs. Since then, however, the company has struggled to explain why it was hiding search results for left-wing political topics—and now users are complaining it categorizes some posts about Linux as malware.

Starting on January 19, 2025 Facebook's internal policy makers decided that Linux is malware and labelled groups associated with Linux as being "cybersecurity threats". Any posts mentioning DistroWatch and multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed. We've been hearing all week from readers who say they can no longer post about Linux on Facebook or share links to DistroWatch. Some people have reported their accounts have been locked or limited for posting about Linux. …Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about this, apart from advising people to get their Linux-related information from sources other than Facebook. I've tried to appeal the ban and was told the next day that Linux-related material is staying on the cybersecurity filter. My Facebook account was also locked for my efforts.

If there's no obvious bias to these content removals, that things are disappearing from Facebook in odd and changing ways contradicts the rhetoric about less censorship. If anything, it suggests that the platform is experimenting with new controls on what users can discuss and share.

Facebook uses Linux extensively, of course.

Facebook's overzealous ban on some Linux topics in the name of Community Standards and its protection of its users from threats come with a large ladle full of irony. "Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux," DistroWatch points out, "and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers."

Hacker News users seem to be having some success replicating the problem.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/01/27/facebook-marking-linux-discussion-as-security-threats.html

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