Apparently Meta is afraid of Pixelfed. Clearly, @dansup is doing something right. Can't imagine a bigger compliment.
"CONFIRMED: Facebook has *banned* anyone from linking to Pixelfed. #metablockingpixelfed"
bsky link: bsky.app/profile/did:plc:n2okvβ¦
h/t @ajsadauskas (see bsky screenshot in reply below)
Maybe tech media should pick this up. Seems like a good story!
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
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Meercat β β¨
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mastodon Migration
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •And some confirmation here:
mastodon.social/@dansup/113813β¦
Edit: Actually, this seems like the first report, and the post above a confirmation. It seems another user mentioned pixelfed.de in a FP post and it did not get blocked, so maybe it is just the .social domain. Will continue to update with any new info.
dansup
2025-01-12 04:40:29
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •German media now has the story...
Thanks to @ajsadauskas here is a first example of German media picking up the story of Meta blocking links to Pixelfed:
social.heise.de/@heiseonlineenβ¦
link to article: heise.de/en/news/Unprecedentedβ¦
Will update if and when there is any US tech media story, but don't hold you breath.
"Unprecedented" growth: Facebook blocks links to Instagram alternative Pixelfed
Martin Holland (heise online)heise online English
2025-01-13 08:51:01
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Cool!
404 Media @404mediaco now has the story of how Meta is blocking links to Pixelfed!
404media.co/meta-is-blocking-lβ¦
"Meta is deleting links to Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram competitor. On Facebook, the company is labeling links to Pixelfed.social as βspamβ and deleting them immediately."
Meta Is Blocking Links to Decentralized Instagram Competitor Pixelfed
Jason Koebler (404 Media)Mastodon Migration reshared this.
ombremad
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mastodon Migration
in reply to ombremad • • •Thanks for the confirmation.
Dr Pen
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •testing this now. Yes its ttue. I tried 3 times, it got removed every time (labelled as spam). The first time I didnt even use a full link, just 'pixelfed.social'.
update2: Tried again, this time it worked, writing a longer post and putting the words in apostrophes.
Update3: we tested it in comments and my friends worked but when I commented back, it was removed again. See screenshots.
UPDATE 4 THE LAST PIXELFED LINK TEST HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED.
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in reply to m3t00π • • •Ralf HΓΌls πΈ
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Mwa πΈπΎπ΅πΈ
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Martin Holland
Unknown parent • • •@ebinger @heiseonline
Danke fΓΌr den Hinweis! Ich kann das nachvollziehen und mache etwas.
Matti JΓ€rvinen
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bad5onic
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Thomas Ebinger (Moderator)
in reply to Martin Holland • • •sodiboo
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •this smells slightly fishy (but just slightly) because like, that post is so concise and there's not a smidgen of legitimate concern you could find to justify what an algorithm might've thought was wrong with it. it's difficult to attributes ignorance to what only resembles pure malice. and I feel that if they genuinely want to silence this kind of stuff, they wouldn't be sending notifications like this admitting to it. because holy shit that looks bad for them.
has anyone else reproduced this result? i don't want to believe it just at face value from one person because, despite how much I may hate facebook, I do genuinely think they would be more competent at hiding their actions than depicted.
Mastodon Migration
in reply to sodiboo • • •@sodiboo
You raise a very good point.
Seems like something that should be reproduced and investigated further.
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Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@sodiboo So just to clarify, this *was* a reproduction of the issue.
A user named Danielle Gembala complained about trying to share a link to Pixelfed and was blocked: bsky.app/profile/ddmgembala.bs…
So I logged into a Facebook account I barely use to try to recreate the issue.
My post read: "Anyone here use Pixelfed?" plus a link to Pixelfed.social (screenshot 1).
Within 3 seconds, a full screen dialogue popped up saying my post had been removed (screenshot 2).
I tapped the "See why" button and it claimed the post had been removed because of "misleading links or content to trick people to visit, or stay on, a website" (screenshot 3).
I tapped the "See rule" link and was shown another dialogue box claiming the link was spam (screenshot 4).
... Show more...@sodiboo So just to clarify, this *was* a reproduction of the issue.
A user named Danielle Gembala complained about trying to share a link to Pixelfed and was blocked: bsky.app/profile/ddmgembala.bsβ¦
So I logged into a Facebook account I barely use to try to recreate the issue.
My post read: "Anyone here use Pixelfed?" plus a link to Pixelfed.social (screenshot 1).
Within 3 seconds, a full screen dialogue popped up saying my post had been removed (screenshot 2).
I tapped the "See why" button and it claimed the post had been removed because of "misleading links or content to trick people to visit, or stay on, a website" (screenshot 3).
I tapped the "See rule" link and was shown another dialogue box claiming the link was spam (screenshot 4).
I haven't previously posted a link to Pixelfed from Facebook, and my previous interaction on the site was when I liked a post in July 2024. So it wasn't the result of bombarding people with links and posts.
Asking if anyone here uses Pixelfed with a link to the main instance of Pixelfed isn't a post where the text misleads about the content of the link.
And given it was 3 seconds between posting and the removed post dialogue, we can rule out a spam complaint or human moderation.
(1 of 2)
pixelfed
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Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au
in reply to Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au • • •And given another user had already complained about their link to Pixelfed being blocked (that's the whole reason I tried replicating it!), we can rule out that this was an isolated incident.
So the Facebook algorithm was definitely blocking links to pixelfed.social.
(Which is why I chose to begin my post with the word CONFIRMED. Because I'd independently confirmed the earlier post.)
Very best case scenario, whoopsies! The Facebook algorithm was accidentally blocking links to a competitor without human intervention.
Not a great look, given Zuckerberg's interview the same day and Meta's recent monopoly antitrust cases.
And worst case scenario, there was human intervention because someone within Meta (not necessarily senior) got jumpy about people talking about a competitor.
Either way, not a great look for Meta.
(2 of 2)
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Dmitry Borodaenko
in reply to Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au • • •[Update: Block has been lifted] WhatsApp Is Blocking Telegram Links In Its Android App
Android PoliceWandering Thinker likes this.
Dmitry Borodaenko
in reply to Dmitry Borodaenko • • •@sodiboo And if you're wondering whether that could be illegal under EU's Digital Markets Act, looks like Zuck also believes it could be:
politico.eu/article/zuckerbergβ¦
"The U.S. government under incoming President Donald Trump should intervene to stop the EU from fining American tech companies for breaching antitrust rules and committing other violations, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said late Friday."
Zuckerberg urges Trump to stop the EU from fining US tech companies
Aitor HernΓ‘ndez-Morales (POLITICO)Dmitry Borodaenko
in reply to Dmitry Borodaenko • • •@sodiboo Oops.
engadget.com/social-media/metaβ¦
Meta admits it deleted links to decentralized Instagram competitor Pixelfed
Ian Carlos Campbell (Engadget)Michel Lind
in reply to Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au • • •Michel Lind
in reply to Michel Lind • • •@sodiboo looks like itβs resolved for now... the official reason, take it as you want, is βa mistakeβ
engadget.com/social-media/metaβ¦
Meta admits it deleted links to decentralized Instagram competitor Pixelfed
Ian Carlos Campbell (Engadget)Mastodon Migration
in reply to sodiboo • • •@sodiboo
Seems like an independent report of Meta Pixelfed blocking here:
mastodon.social/@dansup/113813β¦
dansup
2025-01-12 04:40:29
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flere-imsaho πΊπ¦
in reply to sodiboo • • •flere-imsaho πΊπ¦
in reply to flere-imsaho πΊπ¦ • • •@sodiboo there are numerous examples of facebook censoring anything they deemed critical of facebook β especially news articles (most recent case is the 404's reporting on zuckerberg's fuckery), and also anything they considered a competition at the time.
@dansup @mastodonmigration @ajsadauskas
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Moved to @sam@break3.social
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Shhhhh
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Hahaha. Love this.
People taking back control.
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Fluffgar π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ HAS MOVED
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[Nima@NimaOS ~]#
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •HelloQuitX - Let's Quit X together]
www.helloquitx.comChristof Damian ππ
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •"Unprecedented" growth: Facebook blocks links to Instagram alternative Pixelfed
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in reply to Christof Damian ππ • • •Thanks for the link!
Escovanity
Unknown parent • • •Walrus π΄σ §σ ’σ ·σ ¬σ ³σ Ώ
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Heals
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •as hype as that might look - it's not. Meta has banned linking to (or mentioning) any social platform not owned by them for at least two years. Thank their new and shiny owner.
/cc @jakehamilton
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in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Ben Foote
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •CaveDave
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •makes sense. Unlike all the other big tech social media platforms that exist, Pixelfed and fedi are a legit threat to them.
It's why they spent so much time with Threads in an attempt to EEE ActivityPub
T2R
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Supportive Tree-based lifeform
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •talpa
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Raj π¬π§πͺπΊπ»π₯(π»πΊπ¦;π΅πΈ)
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •I've had similar on completely different non-sensitive topics, when the post consisted of only a few words.
I think that - for whatever reason - very short status updates are detected as spam by the automatons, even though a human would know otherwise.
Christina Mother of Spiders
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Cainmark Does Not Comply π² reshared this.
aproitz
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •ona [she/they]
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •@ElSaltoDiario igual os interesa esta historia para vuestro periΓ³dico?
@mastodonmigration @dansup @ajsadauskas
IΞ±Ξ·
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au reshared this.
The Wolf of South End
Unknown parent • • •Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au reshared this.
π Doc Freemo π³π±
in reply to Mastodon Migration • • •Just posted this on my feed and it was posted with no problems.
It says spam, most likely this poster posted this same message in 20+ different groups and got flagged for spam. Probably has absolutely nothing to do with Pixelfed.
@dansup @ajsadauskas
Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au
in reply to π Doc Freemo π³π± • • •@freemo I can personally confirm thst "this user" β i.e. me β only attempted to post it once.
As a regular Facebook post.
I've documented what happened in greater depth elsewhere.
But basically there was another user who posted that they had tried to post a link to Pixelfed on Facebook and were blocked.
To verify their claim, I tried writing a simple post on my newsfeed asking "Anyone here use Pixelfed?" with a link to Pixelfed dot social.
My last interaction on the site was in July 2024, so definitely no spamming in terms of volume.
Within 3 seconds, I got an automated response.
Jason Koebler from 404 Media tried the same thing, and got the same result: 404media.co/meta-is-blocking-lβ¦
A number of other tech news sites, including Engadget, began running the story: engadget.com/social-media/metaβ¦
At this point, Meta acknowledged it had been blocking links to Pixelfed "by mistake". It no longer seems to be doing it π
Meta admits it deleted links to decentralized Instagram competitor Pixelfed
Ian Carlos Campbell (Engadget)π Doc Freemo π³π±
in reply to Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au • • •Thanks for the additional info. Was it to a group or on your own feed? Maybe it was the group admins then that flagged it?
@mastodonmigration @dansup
Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au
in reply to π Doc Freemo π³π± • • •π Doc Freemo π³π±
in reply to Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au • • •Ok, then yea sounds like it was just the FB mistake and had momentarily set it as a spam keyword.
Good to know it wasnt intentional on their part at least.
@mastodonmigration @dansup