Politics

Facebook Blocks Daily Caller Story On FBI Texts — Blames ‘Spam’ Algorithm

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:

Facebook blocked users Friday from sharing a Daily Caller story on the 300 “missing” text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page that were turned over to Congress on Thursday night.

The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained and published the text messages early Friday morning. Sometime Friday afternoon, however, Facebook began blocking users from sharing the story with their friends, warning them that the story could be spam.

TheDCNF’s reporters attempted several times to post the story on Facebook after readers began complaining that Facebook wouldn’t allow them to share the story. Each time, Facebook rejected the post with a caution message. (RELATED: Facebook Suppresses Certain Media Outlets In Your Newsfeed. It Won’t Tell You Which Ones)

“Our security systems have detected that a lot of people are posting the same content, which could mean that it’s spam,” Facebook told users who tried to share the story. “Please try a different post.”

A spokesperson for Facebook confirmed that the story “triggered one of our automated spam signals – likely because of the high activity that is mentioned in that alert,” adding that the company would take steps to correct the error.

Multiple news outlets appears to been affected by the algorithm’s “false positive,” the spokesperson said, noting that “a few different links and publishers” were inaccurately blocked as “spam.”

Shortly after this article was published, Facebook lifted the ban and allowed users to begin sharing the story once again. It took Facebook over an hour to correct the problem after TheDCNF alerted them to it.

This story has been updated to include comment from a Facebook spokesperson

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.