Have your Facebook groups been set to “Secret” out of a sudden? That’s what many Facebook users have been noticing since yesterday because many Facebook groups have been behaving similarly.
Why are so many Facebook groups changing to secret all at once? Can somebody fill me in? Thanks
cc @BonJarber @dyn___ pic.twitter.com/lycmjCxuHT
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 16, 2019
Why? Apparently, there have been individuals who will join these Facebook groups and spam the groups with images that violates Facebook’s guidelines and proceed to report these groups, resulting to the groups being banned by Facebook. According to TNW, the groups that are targeted are mostly meme groups.
Once the group becomes “Secret”, it will not be able to be found via public search, preventing the said individuals from trying to get Facebook to ban these groups. Unfortunately, group settings cannot be changed as you like — it can only be changed once every 28 days — and your decision is final after 24 hours, so these Facebook groups might just go into hiding for a month to prevent being affected.
Image credit: Teman-teman bulu burung
It was also discovered that the individuals are from a group called Indonesian Reporting Committee. About 19 hours ago, the group issued an apology letter on Facebook, stating that the reason for their doings are to remove hate speeches, hoax and anti-religious posts. The group leader Muhammad Salim apologised for their extreme actions and announced that they no longer be doing so.
