Facebook’s AI mistakenly bans struggling business ads

New York-based businesswoman Ruth Harrigan typically sells her honey and beeswax products in souvenir shops. But with Covid-19 disrupting tourism, she has been almost entirely dependent on Facebook ads to boost online sales. On November 11, that new financial lifeline was abruptly cut when the social media company blocked its HoneyGramz ad account for violating its policies. She couldn’t imagine what her little gifts filled with honey would have triggered the problem.

Friends told Harrigan to wait a few days and the problem might be resolved. She waited until she lost about $5,000 in income.

I was starting to think a little anxiously, ‘Oh my God, Black Friday is coming up, most of my sales for the year are in November and December and that’s it,’ she explained. I said, ‘If I’m arrested longer than that, it’ll cripple me. “”

Harrigan is one of the millions of small business advertisers who have come to rely on Facebook Inc. because the coronavirus has shut down many traditional retail channels. The social media giant opened up new sales opportunities for these entrepreneurs, but also exposed them to the company’s failed content moderation software, limited customer support options, and lack of transparency on how to resolve issues. problems.

Facebook’s human moderators have focused on the election and disinformation about Covid-19 this year, so the company has relied more on artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor other areas of the platform. This has left many small businesses caught in Facebook’s automated filters, unable to advertise through the service, and frustrated that they don’t know why.

That same weekend Harrigan’s account was cut off as Ivonne Sanchez, who runs a permanent makeup clinic in Ottawa, found her ads to be blocked as well, in what Facebook called a “rule violation.” His business, which had to close between March and June due to the pandemic, relied on Facebook to recover financially. The account was re-established the next day without explanation, but “in the midst of a crucial shopping season, it shocked us,” she said. “This experience makes us very nervous about investing dollars in a system that appears to be operated by a robot.”

Even if an advertising account is restored, businesses lose their crucial momentum. Facebook’s advertising algorithm takes a few weeks to determine which users may be interested in an ad and refine the targeting. Jessica Grossman, managing director of digital marketing firm In Social, said when her customers are impacted, the hardest part is telling them their campaigns need to start over and their money won’t go that far.

Facebook hardly realizes the impact of its own algorithm and what that means, Grossman said. The account bans imposed on In Social clients do not seem logical, she added. A pizza vending machine business, a reusable water bottle business, a coffee delivery service, a business coach and a hair weaving business have all been suspended.

We know it can be frustrating to experience any kind of business disruption, especially at such a critical time of the year, Facebook said in a statement. While we provide free support to all businesses, we regularly work on improving our tools and systems, and making the support we offer easier to use and access. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the recent disturbances. “

Facebook often touts its commitment to small businesses as it defends its ever-growing grip on their economic future. In a recent call for results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was a “major goal” that was “more important than ever” as Covid-19 changes online commerce. In an advertising boycott by big brands in July, Facebook’s revenue rose again, supported by small businesses rushing online to try to survive. The company added more tools this year that allow small businesses to sell directly to customers through its site, in the hope that those virtual stores will become advertisers as well.

But while business owners agree that Facebook is a lifeline during the pandemic, they say it’s an unreliable partner as well. Facebook’s ban on political ads around the U.S. election, for example, has affected businesses unrelated to politics, such as a company selling wristbands to benefit refugees. A seed company was also blocked for sharing a photo of Walla Walla onions – which were “overtly sexual,” according to Facebook’s AI.

The company’s anti-cryptocurrency policies have often tricked advertisements from a solar roof company, Human SOLR, as some of the acronyms used by the company are similar to cryptocurrency tokens. Once this issue was resolved, Human SOLR’s ads were again banned for using phrases like “see if your roof qualifies”. Facebook’s software guessed that the company was selling financial products, which are more regulated. After enough flags on the account, Brett Lee, who runs the company, quit Facebook ads. My business is at a standstill, said Lee, based in St. George, Utah. “The lives of my employees are at a standstill.”

According to owner George Fourkas, GFP Delivered, a Chicago-based production company that was promoting a way to avoid groceries during Covid-19, had its Facebook ads shut down for two months without a clear explanation. He said he was only able to resolve the issue after reaching out to former college friends who work at Facebook.

Yaniv Gershom, co-founder of digital marketing firm 4AM Media, said he had to cut 12 jobs in part because of Facebook ad account bans, which lasted for nearly six months. They don’t give you any feedback, he added. “The only people who are doing well are the massive spenders who get a Facebook rep who can escalate issues and find out what’s wrong.”

In some cases, the business impact is difficult to quantify. Matt Snow, co-founder of a clothing company called Boredwalk, said Facebook’s automated systems inadvertently flagged 40% of his company’s product catalog as unsafe at the end of last month. This left Snow targeting the wrong products to potential customers. He eventually noticed and quickly resolved the issue with a Facebook sales manager, but Snow doesn’t know how long the products were banned, or even what other items were advertised for them. Facebook is a very black box on all of their internal machinations, he said.

Facebook has been automating content moderation for years, a transition it highlights in a quarterly report detailing how much content the company is removing. In more nuanced categories such as hate speech, Facebook automatically deleted nearly 95% of violating posts in the third quarter, up from 53% two years ago.

But with this increase comes more corrections. Facebook deleted 22 million hate speech posts in the third quarter, more than 3 times more than a year earlier. The number of messages subsequently restored increased by 40%.

Advertisers have been particularly affected by these automated decisions in recent months. It just exploded. They recently implemented AI – someone changed something – and all of a sudden everyone was shut down, said Justin Brooke, founder of Adskills.com, who teaches businesses how market on Facebook. What are these small businesses going to do? They have families to support. “

One of Brooke’s Facebook ads has a small written disclaimer stating that it was not open to those trying to sell adult content. This has been reported and deleted. Facebook’s automated explanation? The post did not meet corporate community standards for ‘nudity / sexual activity’.

Facebook’s AI overreaction is a side effect of the company taking more responsibility for its platform content, according to Guy Rosen, Facebook vice president of integrity. As we act, we remove more content, there are more opportunities for those who get it wrong, he said in a recent press call.

This is what HoneyGramz’s Harrigan was told on his account. She ended up being desperate enough to google the names of Facebook employees who could help her. She found Rob Leathern, the company’s director of advertising products, and messaged him on Twitter. Miraculously, he responded. A few hours later, Facebook sent an email to restore his account.

They just said they turned it off by mistake, Harrigan said. They didn’t give me any comment. They just reset it like it never happened.

But Harrigan will not forget. She printed the email and pinned it on the whiteboard in her office. It was really, really scary, she says.