Facebook uses artificial intelligence to flag certain words and phrases that it deems “inappropriate,” and if you use those words or phrases, you’ll be sent a nastygram and your comment or post will be made invisible to the public. This is common knowledge. People get their comments removed quite frequently and they even find themselves in FB jail for posting certain content. (So much for freedom of speech, but whatever.) But, here’s what you don’t know: Facebook AI does NOT use a thesaurus. And that’s where the fun comes in.
How do I know this? Well, I got a nastygram. I know. Shocker. I posted a snarky comment, in jest, on a friend’s comment, on someone else’s post, both of whom are familiar with my sarcasm, that said, simply: “Men are pigs.”
FB sent me a message saying my comment violated their policy. More specifically: “Your comment goes against our Community Standards so only you can see it.” Well, alrighty then. Challenge accepted. Because, that is what that was – a challenge. If I can’t post something one way, I’ll damn sure find another way to say it. It’s my little FU to FB.
Me being me, I determined right then and there to post my sentiment anyway and just show that stupid Facebook intelligence bot, how NOT intelligent it really is. There is, after all, more than one way to skin a cat. We writers are REALLY good at finding other ways to say the same thing. We, not only employ the use of a thesaurus, we love a good word challenge.
So, my comment “Men are pigs,” was changed so that it read something to the effect that the male human species were likened to swine. Apparently, the use of “pig” is grossly unacceptable when used in conjunction with men, even though it might be truthful. (Hey, I said might be. If the shoe fits . . .) But there are other words for the animal that produces pork, one of which does not go against FB policy. So instead of pigs, I used swine. And, for extra measure, instead of saying men, I said male. Male swine was not detected by Facebook’s AI as violating their community standards even though “males are swine” and “men are pigs” is essentially the same damn thing. Eureka! Ha! Take that FB. I got my comment posted despite your stupid “community standards.”
As a side note, I find it incredibly odd that people can post things about how stupid President Trump is or what an idiot Joe Biden is and not get dinged for community standard violations, but me making a blanket statement IN JEST that men are pigs, is cause for alarm. Anyway, I consider myself duly warned. I shall not make that mistake again. Nope. No sirree. From now on, only proper English. Nobody understands that language anymore. If I want to insult my political leaders I shall henceforth refer to them as cumberworld bobolynes, dalcops and dorbels, every single one of them. I shall call the leader of them all a drate-poke fopdoodle from a gillie-wet-foot family of leasing-mongers. I dare Facebook to figure that mess out.
I celebrate the little victories. It’s childish and petty, sure, but I got the final word didn’t I? Males are swine for the win!
Do you guys find these little things challenging? Do you try to beat the system? Have you ever violated FB policy?
Word of the Day: Orectic
Fun fact about me: If you haven’t read Anguished English by Richard Lederer, I highly recommend you do so. You’ll find things like “Although the patient had never been fatally ill before, he woke up dead,” and other hilarious things.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, June 2021. Images by Google and giphy.com
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jansenschmidt 
I feel like I need to loan you my Shakespeare insult generator book to send those bots into a tizzy. 🙂 And, for the record, Jack has been sent to FB jail a couple times for funny memes about the president…it just depends on which president you’re poking fun at. Conservative? Totally fine. Liberal? Directly to jail, do not pass go.
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I know. It’s ridiculous. There is so much hatred and hypocrisy on FB that I seldom post things any more. I make comments on occasion and I still post my daily trivia questions on my author page, but I’m tired of all the censorship and double standards. I quit Twitter altogether because of the hatred and bullying. Social media is part of what’s wrong in America these days. There’s no accountability for being an asshole.
Because FB has so many double standards is exactly why I took the time to reword my comment and post it again. I was determined to make my point despite them telling me I couldn’t. Score one for me.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!
Patricia
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Patricia, you’re such a rebel! Haha! Glad you were able to sneak that past that stupid AI bot. 😀
FB is sexist as hell – you also can’t say that men are trash or garbage either. I’m in a women’s group where some use the eggplant emoji in place of “men” to get around this LOL.
I know someone who posts a very rude insult every time they see a pic of Nancy Pelosi… no problem. But they post the same thing about LeBron James, and it gets flagged. WTH?
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I know – the double standards are nauseating. I am using FB less and less these days. So many people get on their soap boxes and start cracking their whips even if they have no idea what they’re talking about. Nobody does any research before posting stuff and everyone’s an expert on everything. Even some of my “friends” are so argumentative on FB but in real life they’d never have the nerve to disagree with me. It’s so stupid.
Anyway, I felt somewhat victorious in my snarky comment. It’s the little things.
Thanks for visiting. Keep on using that eggplant emoji! Whatever works. In secret everyone who’s in on the joke can laugh.
Have a wonderful week.
Patricia
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Patricia – swine was a word my dad used to describe himself and other men… I suppose we are swine from time to time. Had a dad moment there. Back on point – it is sad, but there is no real freedom of speech any longer except perhaps among close friends – when we say things or write things folks tend to get their noses out of joint. I got banned at the beginning of the pandemic by FB for posting my ‘Abundance’ post… I guess it scared someone at FB that there was a person who had hope for the world in March of 2020. I was pissed and fought back and a day later, the post appeared on my feed. Today is gonna be a great day. Stay well and snarky! Peace.
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Clay – I rejoice with you!! Finding another way to “beat the system” is always a good thing. Unless you’re hurting someone of course, which I know you were not. Even well-intentioned comments get skewed sideways and you sometimes end up looking like an insensitive idiot. (You being the collective anyone.)
Recently on FB I saw a post with the image grayed out and a disclaimer that the post may contain material that is sensitive to some persons. When I unlocked the image it was of two little boys standing at the beach and made a reference to how grand God is. Can you imagine? They greyed that out! Who would be offended by that? Just keep scrolling if you find it offensive, don’t stop and ponder it and get your panties in a wad. Sheesh.
Anyway, I pretty much try to stay in my lane these days, but my lane is getting narrower and narrower. Here’s to the snarky ones who try again!!
Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy every day of your summer break!
Patricia
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Perhaps if you were a bit more eloquent in your portrayal of those identifying as the male gender of the most abundant of the primate species, the bipedal homo sapien, intimating that in your opinion they more closely resemble omnivorous, domesticated ungulates? No one at Facebook is going to take the time to figure out if that’s an insult. Of course, it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying either.
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You see – more than one way to get the point across. Just goes to show that artificial intelligence really isn’t so “intelligent” after all.
Thanks for sharing and providing yet another way to express an insult in the super “sensitive” social media sphere.
Patricia
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