cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18210719
Facebook is banning posts that mention various Linux-related topics, sites, or groups. Some users may also see their accounts locked or limited when posting Linux topics. Major open-source operating system news, reviews, and discussion site DistroWatch is at the center of the controversy, as it seems to be the first to have noticed that Facebook’s Community Standards had blackballed it.
[…]
DistroWatch says that the Facebook ban took effect on January 19. Readers have reported difficulty posting links to the site on this social media platform. Moreover, some have told DistroWatch that their Facebook accounts have been locked or limited after sharing posts mentioning Linux topics.
If you’re wondering if there might be something specific to DistroWatch.com, something on the site that the owners/operators perhaps don’t even know about, for example, then it seems pretty safe to rule out such a possibility. Reports show that “multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed.” However, we tested a few other Facebook posts with mentions of Linux, and they didn’t get blocked immediately.
[…]
Addition to include the DistroWatch link: https://distrowatch.com/weekly-mobile.php?issue=20250127#sitenews
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/10/mark-zuckerberg-joe-rogan-facebook-censorship-biden
Zuckerberg on Rogan: Facebook’s censorship was “something out of 1984”
“It really is a slippery slope, and it just got to a point where it’s just, OK, this is destroying so much trust, especially in the United States, to have this program.”
He said he was “worried” from the beginning about “becoming this sort of decider of what is true in the world.” Zuckerberg praised X’s “community notes” program as superior to Facebook’s model.
Way to tackle censorship, Zuck…
The irony is Facebook is a major contributor to a lot of open source software, and Zuckerberg in particular publicly praised the “open” approach of Llama and some other projects. Buts it’s clearly all just self serving, huh?
Did not expect “Linux users” to be this early in the stanzas of “First they came for the […]”
I mean, Linux literally runs the world, so if this is the best he can do, not even my bunny slippers are gonna be spooked.
My conspiracy theory: Meta has an AI that scans articles/the internet for threats and then adjusts the filters for Facebook. The AI just read the story that some Games companies are blocking Linux clients, because they see them as unsafe. The AI just copied what it read.
I wonder if microsoft asked them to do this, either way this is something that shouldnt be ignored. Its basically direct attack and their endgoal might be to make regular people hate or fear linux. That in turn could be used to influence laws and try to ban or limit linux to corporate use only. Computers have become so integral part of society that by controlling the operating system you control the people.
I will dig out my old tails drive just out of spite if they do that.
I don’t think it was Microsoft, in the past few years they’ve been being a little chill towards Linux.
As for being an attack, even if they wanted to, they couldn’t get rid of Linux. Even the US government can’t tell people to stop using it. I mean, they can tell people to stop, but there’s no practical way for them to enforce such a law. Most distros out there also distribute via torrent, so even if you took down the websites for all the distros, you couldn’t stop the distribution of the ISOs. Not to mention, if they outlawed or restricted Linux, I can’t think of anything that would absolutely make the Linux users become very rebellious. Imagine the majority of the hackers, white, gray, and black hat, all of a sudden becoming very angry with the US government. It would be absolute chaos.
Not to mention, there are corporations like Valve and Ubuntu that have invested millions into Linux. I don’t believe for a second they would just lay down and not fight the government outlawing something that has become very lucrative for them.
yeah, i hope i’m just overthinking. Its just that linux is basically only true freedom we have what comes to operating systems. Maybe they just want to keep people who dont know that much about computers away from linux. Though that should be opposed just as well.
I assume Facebook runs on Linux, as does the rest of the internet?
I wish Linux distros use a license that prevents this nonsense.
(I know including ethics in a license is a bad idea, but still…)
“Linux for me, not for thee”
They need the serfs to be hapless surveillance targets, not power users with technological agency.
