Facebook has lifted the ban on Viz after just 24 hours, apologising for its over-zealous move and admitting the magazine’s page had been blocked in error.
The social media giant’s decision has been hailed by Dennis Publishing-owned title, although it is not exactly crowing, simply posting an update which reads: “They wouldn’t tell us what we did, but we promise not to do it again, whatever it was.”
Viz took to Twitter to reveal the ban yesterday morning (February 17), saying that it had been told it could appeal against the move but warned that if the appeal was unsuccessful it could face an outright ban. It posted a mock-up of a page featuring flowers and baby animals asking: “What do you think? Still too offensive?”
One rather irate follower, posted: “So beheadings and animal cruelty vidoes are fine but cartoons with a bit of profanity aren’t? Fuck you Zuckerberg and your band of c***y minions. Granny’s pubes ya whores!”
Ian Westwood, group managing director at parent Dennis, admitted that Viz had had issues in the past: “We have had correspondence with them before about stuff they haven’t liked and we’ve taken it down. This time they have just blocked the page and won’t tell us what we’ve violated.”
Commenting on the censorship, a Facebook spokeswoman said: “We want Facebook to be a place where people can express their opinions and challenge ideas, including through satire and comedy.
“Upon further review we found that the Viz page had been removed in error. We have now restored it and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
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