Facebook presses dislike button on IBTimes article

An International Business Times story about Facebook’s practices on what posts its users see has been downplayed on Facebook itself after a group tried to share the story with its members.

Christopher Zara of the International Business Times writes, “When one such group, the Global Healthy Living Foundation, shared the IBTimes article on its Facebook page, ‘CreakyJoints,’ the story reached only a fraction of the foundation’s more than 75,000 fans (because, as the article pointed out, organic reach is down to less than 2 percent in some cases). And when that same organization tried to pay money to boost the post, Facebook rejected it on the grounds that the post included an ‘improper reference to Facebook.’

The group received an automated message stating that boosted posts may make only ‘limited references’ to Facebook for the purposes of clarifying destination sites. As of Wednesday, the post remained published on the site but not boosted.

“Reached for comment, a spokesman for Facebook denied that the boost was rejected because the article reflected poorly on Facebook. He said boosted posts — which are paid — must adhere to Facebook’s advertising guidelines, including restrictions on references to Facebook brand assets.”

Read more here.