Facebook Bans Ads Highlighting Violence Against Women

by Admin · February 3, 2022

A Catholic British aid agency has criticised Facebook for banning adverts that highlight violence against women.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) UK, a pontifical foundation that focuses on assisting the Church wherever it is persecuted, oppressed or in material need, said that in November the global media platform censored its ad campaign highlighting sexual violence against Christian and other religious-minority women and girls.

Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of ACN (UK) said Facebook had imposed “severe restrictions” on adverts promoting a petition calling on the UK government and the United Nations to step up action to tackle sexual violence and forced conversion of girls and women from minority faiths in countries such as Egypt, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Facebook placed a number of drastic strictures on the campaign calling for action helping Christian and other religious minority women who are kidnapped and forced to have sex with their abductors – often under the veil of marriage.

“We are horrified that our campaign, which aims to help suffering women, has been censored in such a draconian manner,” Kyrke-Smith said. “By claiming to have banned our advert for ‘violating its guidelines’, but refusing to say which guidelines or how, Facebook have made themselves judge, jury and executioner.”

The restrictions restricted ACN (UK)’s campaign by 90% and prevented it from using WhatsApp and Instagram, he said. Since it banned the adverts, Facebook has repeatedly refused to answer ACN’s requests to explain how the adverts have violated its guidelines.

“Facebook claims to have received complaints from people who objected to the advert. We can understand that the topic is objectionable” for those in favour of such abuse ACN campaigns against, “but surely that is all the more reason why we need to come together to make a stand against it,” Kyrke-Smith said.

“By curbing this campaign, they are silencing these women twice over,” he said.

Facebook subsequently lifted the restrictions imposed – but offered no explanation for its actions which severely hampered the organisation’s outreach.

In October, the social media giant also blocked The Southern Cross’ popular Facebook page. “We were given no warning nor explanation, nor a coherent way of appealing the decision. In one arbitrary move, Facebook wrecked the work of several years — ironically after we had used their advertising service regularly,” said Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher.

“I can’t imagine what content of a Catholic magazine like ours could possibly offend anyone, except a fanatically anti-Catholic individual. I’ve been told that these ‘decisions’ are made by algorithms, which suggests that we are arriving at the point of a dictatorship of the robots. I don’t imagine that Facebook lacks the funds to employ human beings to undo the most arbitrary and unjust ‘decisions’ by its algorithms.”