[danielvf]

I had a friend pick up a presumably automated ban from Facebook this month for posting a picture of a soldier from a WWII re-enactment he went to. No gore, no nudity, just a half body shot of a German soldier in uniform standing in the camp, smiling at the camera. No idea what triggered it, but it is scary.

[dwighttk]

"WWII.. German soldier..."

"No idea what triggered it..."

Really? I don't agree with it, but it is almost certainly just "hey that's a nazi!"

[danielvf]

In the past, Facebook's moderation (outside of user flagging) has involved some automated Facebook processes flagging the photo for review and then a human looking at the photo and decided to issue a account ban.

My friend lives in the mostly drama-free midwest, has a mostly drama-free facebook life, and participates in WWII reenactments seemingly a couple times a month. It seems very unlikely that this photo was flagged by a friend of his.

So it would appear that Facebook's automated tools are now sometimes thinking that WWII German soldiers are Nazi's. And either Facebook human thought the photo was worth a temp ban, or an automated tool is now banning anyone it thinks is a "Nazi". These are new things that haven't been happening in the past.

[dwighttk]

Ah, I didn't realize there were humans in the loop. Could also be that they are overworked and have just a few seconds to decide. Or a friend was being silly, or accidentally pushed the flag button.