Facebook doesn’t exactly have a sterling reputation when it comes to blocking and removing content. That means that even when the social media giant mistakenly censors posts, many users immediately accuse the company of foul play. For instance, this week, Facebook blocked a small nonprofit newspaper and flagged it as a cybersecurity threat after the paper published an article critical of the company, leading many to allege deliberate censorship.

For its part, Facebook worked to quickly undo the problem over the past several days, stating that “we certainly don’t block links to articles that are critical about us.” However, the paper that was censored says this error may have seriously harmed its trust with the public.

“This move not only affected Kansas Reflector’s Facebook page, where we link to nearly every story we publish, but the pages of everyone who has ever shared a story from us,” journalists at the Reflector wrote in an opinion piece. “That’s the short version of the virtual earthquake that has shaken our readers. We’ve been flooded with instant messages and emails from readers asking what happened, how they can help and why the platform now falsely claims we’re a cybersecurity risk.”

While it was likely a mistake that Facebook took down this paper’s pages, it’s still proof of how easily the company can shape public opinion and censor virtually anything it wants to — which is a disturbing amount of power for it to have.

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