Facebook often finds itself in hot water over its content moderation decisions — whether it acts too aggressively or not aggressively enough. This week, the social media giant received fierce blowback over its decision to ban a Holocaust film for violating its standards. Because the film’s title is Beautiful Blue Eyes, Facebook’s algorithm flagged the content as including “direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race.”

After Facebook banned content related to the film, its creator Joshua Newton appealed the decision. However, even after his case was reviewed by human moderators, he was informed that the advertising and trailers for his film would be “permanently restricted.”

“Every decent and sane human being on this planet should be alarmed by Meta-Facebook’s ban on the advertising of a Holocaust-related film,” the filmmaker told Rolling Stone. “Mark Zuckerberg has created a monster that has no oversight. It’s one thing to be flagged by an algorithm. It’s another for Meta-Facebook employees to review the flag and uphold it, knowing full well that the title is not discriminatory and that the film is Holocaust-related.”

Thankfully, after this incident was reported in the press, Facebook decided to reverse its decision and reinstate content related to the film. However, it shouldn’t take this much public pressure for Facebook to get these easy decisions right.

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