Facebook admits error in censoring anti-Obama message

[Commentary] Larry Ward will concede that he “poked the bear.” As president of the D.C.-based Political Media Inc., Ward administers the Facebook page of a group called Special Operations Speaks (SOS), an anti-Obama group consisting of “veterans, legatees, and supporters of the Special Operations communities of all the Armed Forces.” Essentially hard guys who want the president out of office. “These are the toughest sons of a guns out there and they say what they mean,” says Ward. He posted a picture that read, “Obama called the SEALs and THEY got bin Laden. When the SEALs called Obama, THEY GOT DENIED.” Facebook sent Ward a warning about the meme. Take it down, said Facebook. Ward didn’t comply. Facebook took down the image, with this explanation: “We removed content you posted. We removed the content you posted or were admin of because it violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.” Ward re-posted the image along with Facebook’s rationale for removing it. Facebook took the image down again and froze the account for 24 hours, in effect stifling SOS on Facebook. After all that censorship and bureaucracy, Facebook is now acknowledging that it was a mistake. Here’s the note that Facebook’s Andrew Noyes passed along: “This was an error and we apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused. They can feel free to repost the image.”