by Aubrey Belford (OCCRP Pacific Editor)
Facebook temporarily blocked scores of posts on a page run by an OCCRP member center, In-Depth Solomons, after incorrectly labeling the independent investigative news outlet’s journalism as spam. The outlet suspects that complaints by critics who want to silence independent journalism may be behind the blockade.
The reporters in Solomon Islands became aware of the problem on Thursday afternoon, when the platform informed them it had hidden at least 86 posts, including stories and photos. Defining its posts as spam resulted in the removal for several hours of what appeared to be everything the news organization had posted on Facebook since March last year.
Facebook also blocked its users from posting content from the outlet’s website, indepthsolomons.com.sb, saying that such links go against the platform’s Community Standards. The block remained in place as of publication time.
Ben Cheong, a spokesman for Facebook’s parent company Meta, told OCCRP they needed more time to look into the issue before commenting.
In-Depth Solomons is one of the few independent outlets in the Pacific Islands country. Its editor, Ofani Eremae, said the content removal may have been the result of a coordinated campaign by critics of his newsroom to file bogus terms of service complaints to Facebook en masse.
“We firmly believe we’ve been targeted for the journalism we are doing here in Solomon Islands,” Eremae said. “We don’t have any evidence at this stage on who did this to us, but we think people or organizations who do not want to see independent reporting in this country may be behind this.”
In-Depth Solomons has recently earned criticism both online and in local media from supporters of the government and mainland China. The island nation switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 and then signed a surprise security agreement with Beijing in 2022.
The newsroom’s recent investigations include a joint expose with OCCRP into the unexplained wealth of the Solomon Islands former prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare.
OCCRP has also revealed how one of the island country’s main newspapers has taken money from China’s embassy in return for favorable coverage.
In-Depth Solomons was founded in 2023 and became an OCCRP member center in May this year.
