cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18210719
Facebook is banning posts that mention various Linux-related topics, sites, or groups. Some users may also see their accounts locked or limited when posting Linux topics. Major open-source operating system news, reviews, and discussion site DistroWatch is at the center of the controversy, as it seems to be the first to have noticed that Facebook’s Community Standards had blackballed it.
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DistroWatch says that the Facebook ban took effect on January 19. Readers have reported difficulty posting links to the site on this social media platform. Moreover, some have told DistroWatch that their Facebook accounts have been locked or limited after sharing posts mentioning Linux topics.
If you’re wondering if there might be something specific to DistroWatch.com, something on the site that the owners/operators perhaps don’t even know about, for example, then it seems pretty safe to rule out such a possibility. Reports show that “multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed.” However, we tested a few other Facebook posts with mentions of Linux, and they didn’t get blocked immediately.
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Addition to include the DistroWatch link: https://distrowatch.com/weekly-mobile.php?issue=20250127#sitenews
I wonder if microsoft asked them to do this, either way this is something that shouldnt be ignored. Its basically direct attack and their endgoal might be to make regular people hate or fear linux. That in turn could be used to influence laws and try to ban or limit linux to corporate use only. Computers have become so integral part of society that by controlling the operating system you control the people.
I don’t think it was Microsoft, in the past few years they’ve been being a little chill towards Linux.
As for being an attack, even if they wanted to, they couldn’t get rid of Linux. Even the US government can’t tell people to stop using it. I mean, they can tell people to stop, but there’s no practical way for them to enforce such a law. Most distros out there also distribute via torrent, so even if you took down the websites for all the distros, you couldn’t stop the distribution of the ISOs. Not to mention, if they outlawed or restricted Linux, I can’t think of anything that would absolutely make the Linux users become very rebellious. Imagine the majority of the hackers, white, gray, and black hat, all of a sudden becoming very angry with the US government. It would be absolute chaos.
Not to mention, there are corporations like Valve and Ubuntu that have invested millions into Linux. I don’t believe for a second they would just lay down and not fight the government outlawing something that has become very lucrative for them.
yeah, i hope i’m just overthinking. Its just that linux is basically only true freedom we have what comes to operating systems. Maybe they just want to keep people who dont know that much about computers away from linux. Though that should be opposed just as well.
I will dig out my old tails drive just out of spite if they do that.
it shouldnt be allowed to go there because it might not be reversable by then. I wish I was just paranoid but way the world is going makes this very plausible.
By the time things like that become evident its like trying to stop a boulder that has been gaining momentum for a while, which is why I wish people were more active about doing something instead of waiting until there is clear evidence that something should be done. This kind of wasnt a direct reply to content of your comment, sorry