This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site.
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women
Our
Church and State website has no less than 40 Nobel Prize winners on it; for details, see this blog's sidebar under "Church and State" (updated today).
Facebook does not have a political bias? The social network's blocks against our Church and State website have gone from 47 days in 2017 to 122 days so far this year (4 out of 8 months). Last March they blocked me from posting Church and State articles in groups four times (29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. Tonight I received this notification of their 45th block against our Church and State website since 1 December 2015:
These notifications without an explanation come out of the blue. There's absolutely no way of knowing whether or not the rest of this month will be another wipeout from Facebook, and without an explanation being given.
Re: Facebook
Paragraph 40 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
40. The Applicant's wife has encountered numerous problems with Facebook. In August 2011, then Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote to Facebook on the Applicant's behalf, asking that they explain why she had been barred (see Annex 19, p. 47). The bar was subsequently lifted; however, since December 2015, Facebook has blocked her from posting to groups 37 times, and for up to 12 days at a time (see Annex 22, p. 50). In December 2015, Shadow Home Office Minister Lyn Brown made an enquiry on the Applicant's behalf to Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch asking if he could offer an explanation as to the terms and conditions the Applicant's wife was alleged to have broken twice previously (see Annex 20, p. 48). To the best of the Applicant's knowledge, Mr. Hatch did not respond to this letter. The Applicant's wife only ever posts to groups that are specific to an article's subject and that she is well familiar with, and she only ever posts articles that she has already published on the Church and State website. This concerted campaign against the Church and State website escalated in November 2017 after the site topped more than
3 million hits over the previous eleven months [emphasis added]. In March 2018, the Applicant's wife was blocked from posting to groups four times (for 29 out of 31 days), and all without explanation. The following is taken from her complaint to Facebook dated 28 January 2018 (see Annex 21, p. 49):
"
Seldom has Facebook made it clear why I am being blocked. Today's block records as the 30th time Facebook has blocked me from posting to groups since 1 December 2015. The only explanation given at the time of one of these blocks has been "spam" (received today); and Facebook has only responded to four of my previous 29 appeals, citing "technical problems" in each instance. Nonetheless, I have been blocked from posting to groups a total of 43 days (and counting) in the last three months alone."
Updated complaint to the United Nations:
https://issuu.com/lolaheavey/docs/un-complaint-may-2018
Facebook UK Managing Director Steve Hatch
UPDATE 15 November (7.27pm): When it comes to blocking me from posting Church and State articles in groups, Facebook's 45th block since 1 December 2015 was lifted on 6 September (3 days). I have, however, subsequently been blocked 5 times from doing the same (an additional 41 days), most recently from this evening until 22 November and without an explanation as usual.
Facebook blocks
2015
1st 1-4 December 2015 (4 days)
2nd 5-7 December 2015 (3 days)
Total: 7 days
---------------------------------------------------
2016
3rd 6-9 January 2016 (4 days)
4th 12-15 January 2016 (4 days)
5th 20-22 January 2016 (3 days)
6th 13-16 February 2016 (4 days)
7th 23-26 March 2016 (4 days)
8th 20-23 May 2016 (4 days)
9th 25-30 May 2016 (6 days)
10th 1-3 July 2016 (3 days)
11th 7-8 September 2016 (2 days)
12th 21-22 September 2016 (3 days)
13th 27-28 September 2016 (2 days)
14th 29 September - 3 October 2016 (5 days)
15th 4-5 October 2016 (2 days)
16th 18-23 October 2016 (6 days)
17th 9-14 December 2016 (6 days)
Total: 58 days
---------------------------------------------------
2017
18th 4-6 January 2017 (3 days)
19th 20-23 January 2017 (4 days)
20th 17 May 2017 (1 day)
21st 19 June 2017 (1 day)
22nd 19-21 August 2017 (3 days)
23rd 19 September 2017 (1 day)
24th 28 October - 8 November 2017 (12 days)
25th 23-30 November 2017 (8 days)
26th 7-8 December 2017 (2 days)
27th 10-17 December 2017 (8 days)
28th 28 December 2017 - 31 December 2018 (4 days)
Total: 47 days
---------------------------------------------------
2018
28th (cont.) 1-4 January 2018 (4 days)
29th 16-23 January 2018 (8 days)
30th 28 January - 4 February 2018 (8 days)
31st 12-19 February 2018 (8 days)
32nd 26 February - 5 March 2018 (8 days)
33rd 7-14 March 2018 (8 days)
34th 16-23 March 2018 (8 days)
35th 24 March - 1 April 2018 (9 days)
36th 4-11 April 2018 (8 days)
37th 14-21 April 2018 (8 days)
38th 2-5 June 2018 (4 days)
39th 13-14 June 2018 (2 days)
40th 17-24 June 2018 (8 days)
41st 10-17 July 2018 (8 days)
42nd 21-28 July 2018 (8 days)
43rd 31 July - 3 August 2018 (4 days)
44th 10-17 August 2018 (8 days)
45th 4-6 September 2018 (3 days)
46th 20-27 September 2018 (8 days)
47th 30 September - 7 October 2018 (8 days)
48th 12-20 October 2018 (9 days)
49th 2-9 November 2018 (8 days)
50th 15-22 November 2018 (8 days) (ongoing)
Total: 163 days
January 2018: 16 days
February 2018: 15 days
March 2018: 29 days
April 2018: 17 days
May 2018: No blocks in May
June 2018: 14 days
July 2018: 17 days
August 2018: 11 days
September 2018: 12 days
October 2018: 16 days
November 2018: 16 days (until 22 November)
I previously reported problems with my Facebook
Network for Church Monitoring page on 4 November (see
here). Sometimes these sort of problems present themselves in clusters:
6 June 2018
Dear Facebook,
This afternoon I have been unable to post directly to my Page, schedule posts or view my scheduled posts. Please see the attached screenshot, which shows the removal of my facility to post directly to my Page and to view my scheduled posts.
I will not know until this evening whether or not my scheduled posts are posting.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in these matters.
Sincerely,
Lola Heavey
https://www.facebook.com/networkforchurchmonitoring/
Despite our distinguished list of
188 Honorary Associates from around the world, blocks on access to our Church and State website also continue unabated; see my blog post 27 June,
SITE BLOCKS: The blocks on access to our Church and State website continue unabated (WITH UPDATE 15/11/2018: re 1,397th block since 26 July 2016). Then there's the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site. For example, as I point out in
my most recent blog post about Royal Mail misdelivering our mail, the
second article below has more than 1/2 million Facebook likes/shares (not zero):
And it's not just Facebook blocks, blocks on access to our Church and State website, and the daily targeting to fluctuating degrees of category pages throughout the site. Since 26 May 2017, I have been recording Internet cuts to boot; see my blog post of 7 July,
INTERNET CUTS: Are 45-minute Internet cuts to be the new norm? We pay British Telecom £850 per year for broadband (WITH UPDATE 15/11/2018: re 291st Internet cut since 26 May 2017). Perhaps of particular importance in all this is the fact that last November Church and State topped more than 3 million hits over the previous 11 months, and despite
the even then far from level playing field.
From My Picks:
8 May 2018:
Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour
http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/
