Links to all the articles in this series are available here.
I had an interesting adventure on Saturday, November 6, 2021. Before going to bed after midnight early Saturday morning, I had posted the following item on my Word Foundations Facebook page.
On Saturday morning after the sun rose, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw that FB was inviting me to boost my post. Here’s how that works: I pay them to increase the exposure of my post, making my message available to a larger-than-usual number of Facebook users. Facebook apparently shows each of my posts to only a handful of my FB friends; but of course, I have no idea just how few. However, I’ve never seen evidence that the number is more than miniscule.
Here is a copy of Facebook’s “invitation” to me to boost my post.
Notice that FB said to me, “Get more reactions, comments and shares with an ad like this.” I looked at the options they offered. For $10, I requested that FB would, for 10 days, increase the exposure of my post. Note that FB had invited me to boost, not just any item, but this particular item.
Get more reactions, comments and shares with an ad like this.
—Facebook ad encouraging a user to boost a post—
It wasn’t long before I learned that my request had been rejected. I learned this through the list of notifications I receive regularly, the same place FB notifies me when a user comments on a post or otherwise reacts to it, positively or negatively.
“View it for more info,” they told me. So I did. Here’s what I saw.
The indication that 4 people had been reached refers to the fact four already had seen it from my original posting. I would not expect any engagements, because my post was very much like a photograph that stands alone; no hyperlinks accompanied it. You can see that I requested the post be boosted at 8:21 AM, and that my request for the boost was rejected.
Facebook gives an individual who’s request for a boost has been turned down the opportunity to request a review. Significantly, however, the user only has an opportunity to click a “Request Review” button. There’s no place for the user to present his or her side of the case, to try to reason with those making the decision. Otherwise, I would have requested, “Please reconsider, and here’s why….” Nope. None of that. Here are your options.
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- You simply don’t request a review and let your request die then and there, or, apparently,
- you request a review and watch it die a short time later.
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Anyway, the second scenario is what happened to me. I requested a review, and — you guessed it! — my request died. Not long after submitting my review request, I saw this in my FB feed.
I clicked on the “Review Your Ad” button, and here’s what I saw.
I next clicked on the “View Request” button, and this image appeared on my screen.
The Bottom Line
Evidence continues to mount that Facebook is run by a bunch of tyrants and hypocrites. They invite me to request they boost a specific post, and then when I do, they reject my request. What is the problem here? Does FB feel threatened, wondering if I might actually convince some people that socialism is bad? If you really want to hear evidence of this, go here, where Dennis Prager describes the almost inconceivable horrific track record of socialism’s ideological sister, communism (BTW, you can’t have communism without socialism). I ask you: What could be more benign (and acceptable for a FB-post boost) than what I’ve written in my 100-word paragraph? It’s history, and what I’ve written can’t be refuted by anyone who’s intellectually honest.
Are we to conclude that FB believes in and socialism so much it will reject any criticism of it? FB has made billions in a free enterprise economy! Ironically, it claims to be a free-speech platform yet squelches its customers’ free speech rights.
I understand FB isn’t the government, but it’s undeniable that FB and other social media platforms have become the “street corner” on which people must stand when declaring their message to have any hope of getting their message out. Because of this reality, when FB and other members of Big Tech do the kind of thing I’ve described here, they violate citizens’ Constitution rights!
I have a word for this kind of behavior. Hypocrisy!
Another word comes to mind as well: Tyranny!
Apparently, hypocrisy and tyranny against conservatives pervade the offices of Facebook. That’s at least been my experience.
Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this from Facebook. Whenever it happens, I can’t do much; but what I can do, I will do. I will call FB out on it to the extent I am able.
That’s exactly what I’m doing here.
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Copyright © 2021 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
top image credit: Photo by Camilo Jimenez on Unsplash