When Algorithms Fail: Ancient Origins' Battle with Facebook Censorship
Once again, Ancient Origins has fallen victim to Facebook's censorship system, this time for publishing a factual account of how the National Socialist Party (the Nazi Party) rose to power and exploited myths and false histories to gain popularity and justify its atrocities.
We suspect that this article was held hostage by Facebook’s algorithmic censorship, and was only cleared once a human reviewer stepped in.
If we are prevented from discussing such topics, how can we learn from them? The phrase “Lest we forget…” comes to mind.
After a month, restrictions on our Facebook account have finally been lifted as were were accused of violating the platform’s community standards on multiple occasions. Admittedly, we have had previous posts removed for "inappropriate" content, which included images of skeletons, mummies, Roman statues, and Venus figurines, hardly avoidable material for a website dedicated to history and archaeology.
- Mummified Body Parts Among Artifacts Now Banned on Facebook
- Iconic 30000-Year-Old Ancient Female Dubbed “Dangerous Pornography” By Facebook
The Precarious Balance of Censorship
Moderation of social media is a vast and expensive area - monitoring a community of 2+ billion people is no simple task and takes huge resources. Social media platforms generally rely on algorithms to enforce content moderation. But these systems are prone to errors (as we believe is the case here) especially when dealing with content like history, politics, or cultural issues. This reliance on AI often fails to differentiate between harmful content and educational discourse, silencing critical discussions that contribute to public awareness.
And getting it wrong punishes the small, independent news providers more than any, restricting income, and being a real existential threat.
Independent media outlets like Ancient Origins, which challenge mainstream narratives or explore controversial historical topics, often bear the brunt of such policies, limiting access to diverse viewpoints.
Maybe Elon Musk has got it right with having the intention of X allowing all posts and comments to run free under the protection of free speech. X does not try to overly police its domain and that certainly saves one heck of an overhead!
Moderation, well, in Moderation
Now, we do understand that some subjects of discussion are sensitive, and that inappropriate content especially that which could initiate harmful actions needs to be monitored.
But censoring important historical content could have serious consequences for public education. Platforms like Facebook now play a crucial role in disseminating both knowledge and news.
Blocking content related to sensitive historical events, such as how the Nazi Party rose to power, undermines efforts to educate the public about these topics. This may contribute to ‘historical amnesia’, where the lessons of the past are forgotten, increasing the risk of repeating similar mistakes.
A Brighter Future?
Mark Zuckergberg recently wrote a letter to the US House Judiciary Committee regarding online content moderation investigations, where he states, ‘senior officials, including the White House, repeatedly asked the company to remove COVID-19 content’ reported USA Today.
He says in that letter, quoted by USA Today:
"I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it…. I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn't make today."
He also adds that the Meta group has now changes its policies, saying:
“We've changed our polices and processes to make sure this doesn't happen again − for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”
So, there is some hope of improvements in freedom there.
Meanwhile, with presumably no pressure from authorities, we still wait to have our restriction lifted, a month after it was imposed.
Surely there is a better system than this for modern day censorship resolution.
Get Uncensored (almost) History
In the meantime, there are ways you can keep getting Ancient Origins news stories, uncensored.
Here’s how you can prevent the algorithms from obscuring your daily Ancient Origins news and updates.
‘Like’ and ‘Prioritize’ Ancient Origins on Facebook. This may give the message that you want AO news in your feed, even if Facebook algorithms have other plans.
Like Ancient Origins on Facebook or even better, follow us on X (twitter)
Don’t Be Stopped - Go Around! Install the App
Even better, you can download the Ancient Origins mobile app. This is the most reliable and direct way to get any content from the websites you love. The app delivers news and updates and is not blocked or throttled.
Get it here for iOS, and Android.
Use the app to keep updated and see the content YOU want.
Get Notified
If you allow browser notifications from Ancient Origins, this means you can be alerted directly on your computer when breaking news, new articles, or announcements go out. Don’t miss a beat!
Speaking of notifications, make sure you’ve got them turned on for whatever social media you like to use. This will let you know when we reveal something about history’s when, where, who, and how (perhaps not why, though. The ancient world still holds many mysteries!)
See the action on YouTube: Turn on notifications (ring the ‘bell’ icon). (We are posting more videos and shorts than ever).
Turn on X and toggle mobile notifications.
If you’re not getting Ancient Origins on other social media platforms, you might be missing out on amazing news, photos, videos, and discoveries.
We’re on: X, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn.
Go Straight to the Source
Don’t forget, you can always go the common-sense route and visit the website!
Ancient Origins, like all alternative media, is battling to exist in a larger mainstream media world. If we don’t do this now, and if we allow algorithms to dictate how we receive our knowledge, Ancient Origins becomes history, and the larger companies will become your sole source of news.
Even if you enjoy and depend upon the content of major news media, it’s best to get as MANY different sources as you can so you get alternative viewpoints and information that might be too ‘different’, ‘unpackaged’, or ‘real’ to be presented on the nightly TV news.
Top image: Censored on Egyptian wall. Source: vitanovski/Adobe Stock