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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: CommuniCat on June 20, 2020, 12:04

Title: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: CommuniCat on June 20, 2020, 12:04
Saturday, 20 June, 2020 – In what appears to be yet another example of big tech stifling free speech, Facebook has gagged an Inside Imaging journalist’s article relating to a media industry organisation, The Stock Coalition, and their call for artists and media buyers to boycott online creative stock giant Shutterstock, after the New York-based agency cut contributor compensation to as low as $0.10 per download.

Media industry specialist online title, Inside Imaging picked up a press release issued by The Stock Coalition this week, and journalist William Shipton approached the organisation for further comment.

In his article, Mr Shipton asserted that “Shutterstock is waiting for all of this to blow over. And while the backlash was likely expected, it’s doubtful Shutterstock’s new management, including recently-appointed CEO Stan Pavlovsky, anticipated contributors would form a lobby group.” Mr Shipton further balanced his article with comment from a representative from a competing agency, Dreamstime.

Yet mysteriously, almost as soon as the piece was published, Facebook placed a gag on sharing the news article. Reader, Elijah Lovkoff, provided a screenshot of a message from Facebook that read: “Your message couldn’t be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive.” Stock Coalition representatives from around the world soon began reporting the same problem.

More here: https://stockcoalition.org/2020/06/20/facebook-gags-industry-article-on-shutterstock-shutdown/
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 20, 2020, 12:17
Scary.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: harshithdwivedi on June 20, 2020, 12:34
Is Facebook for real!?
Do you happen to have the link to the article that was reported?
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: marthamarks on June 20, 2020, 12:50
Wasn't SS the stock corp that FB made a special deal with some time back? Normally, I don't bother tracking this kind of stuff, but I do have some memory of that.

If so, that explains FB's "playing footsie under the table" reaction.

Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on June 20, 2020, 12:59
Is Facebook for real!?
Do you happen to have the link to the article that was reported?

It's in the press release, but also

https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/shutterstock-contributors-unite-to-form-coalition/ (https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/shutterstock-contributors-unite-to-form-coalition/)

I've been tweeting about this too :)

https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274369826245378049 (https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274369826245378049)

@joannsnover
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: harshithdwivedi on June 20, 2020, 13:20
Is Facebook for real!?
Do you happen to have the link to the article that was reported?

It's in the press release, but also

https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/shutterstock-contributors-unite-to-form-coalition/ (https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/shutterstock-contributors-unite-to-form-coalition/)

I've been tweeting about this too :)

https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274369826245378049 (https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274369826245378049)

@joannsnover

Thanks, retweeted.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Rage on June 20, 2020, 13:38
There is also this great writeup about the whole gagging

https://t.co/n86sgoq15j

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 20, 2020, 13:45
With all the fake stuff on FB and manipulation of the American voting system by bad actors, they choose a little article from a small publication about people protesting a pay cut to block? I just find that chilling.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: noodle on June 20, 2020, 13:57
Think we are making an impact?
This should only add fuel to our fire!
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: blue on June 20, 2020, 16:02
Boycott Facebook
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on June 20, 2020, 18:38
There is also this great writeup about the whole gagging

https://t.co/n86sgoq15j

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

That just links to the article Alistair posted up top. Did you mean to link to something different?
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Clair Voyant on June 20, 2020, 19:43
PATHETIC!!!

Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: tpack on June 20, 2020, 19:46
It’s time to quit Facebook too
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on June 21, 2020, 00:15
I was looking for good quotes on how drastically Shutterstock has changed over the last few years and came upon this blog post from 2012 where they boasted about treating us fairly & with respect. The post was about them topping the earnings poll at MSG

That merited a tweet

https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274569647380037632 (https://twitter.com/joannsnover/status/1274569647380037632)

Their blog post is here

https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/microstock-survey (https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/microstock-survey)

Pavlovsky is a real piece of work
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: NeonRobot on June 21, 2020, 01:11
It’s time to quit Facebook too

Ive done it 4 years ago. No regrets. Typical regulator of people minds and future government.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: CommuniCat on June 21, 2020, 01:42
I somehow managed to leave this out of the original PR: https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/shutterstock-facebook-free-stock-photos-advertiser.html (https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/shutterstock-facebook-free-stock-photos-advertiser.html)

Facebook and SS executives are tight. Easily tight enough to call in some favours.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: harshithdwivedi on June 21, 2020, 03:10
It’s time to quit Facebook too

Same, but a lot of my photographer friends get their gigs from Facebook and Instagram. As long as that happens, FB will always have the upper hand.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Chichikov on June 21, 2020, 03:39
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: harshithdwivedi on June 21, 2020, 03:45
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

Thanks, that's a neat trick!
I hope that they don't remove these shortened links as well.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 21, 2020, 05:18
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

I tried using bitly, and as long as I simply posted the link it was fine. But who’ll read an article if just a bitly link appears? So I commented that Facebook was censoring the article...and suddenly I’m unable to post it. I repeatedly get a message that “something went wrong. We’re working to fix it as fast as we can.” This is some bullshite.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Chichikov on June 21, 2020, 07:38
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

I tried using bitly, and as long as I simply posted the link it was fine. But who’ll read an article if just a bitly link appears? So I commented that Facebook was censoring the article...and suddenly I’m unable to post it. I repeatedly get a message that “something went wrong. We’re working to fix it as fast as we can.” This is some bullshite.

Did you click on this link?
https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf
What happens?
Then you can put the title you want in your facebook post.


Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: aprott on June 21, 2020, 08:52
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

I did the same and it was removed some seconds later as spam. Perhaps because I just put the bitly link in the message and nothing else. Perhaps because they follow the link?

So I repeated the direct link and when I got the message from FB that I can't post this link, I clicked the embedded link to protest against the block. Perhaps more people should do this to stop the blocking of the link.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 21, 2020, 09:40
I’m pretty sure I figured out who reported the article to Facebook. We have an active Shutterstock contributor spying on Facebook and in here, which no doubt is why the bitly posts were also removed. I don’t want to say who publicly because I don’t want to accuse someone without being 100% sure.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: mike935 on June 21, 2020, 11:03
The rich have everything, and ordinary people only have the statue of liberty and freedom of speech in the kitchen.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Chichikov on June 21, 2020, 11:20
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

I did the same and it was removed some seconds later as spam. Perhaps because I just put the bitly link in the message and nothing else. Perhaps because they follow the link?

So I repeated the direct link and when I got the message from FB that I can't post this link, I clicked the embedded link to protest against the block. Perhaps more people should do this to stop the blocking of the link.

Strange…
Here it is always on my page (for the moment).
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 21, 2020, 11:55
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

I tried using bitly, and as long as I simply posted the link it was fine. But who’ll read an article if just a bitly link appears? So I commented that Facebook was censoring the article...and suddenly I’m unable to post it. I repeatedly get a message that “something went wrong. We’re working to fix it as fast as we can.” This is some bullshite.

Did you click on this link?
https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf
What happens?
Then you can put the title you want in your facebook post.

I see. You have a bitly link to the article about the Facebook ban of the original article, and we’re trying to post links to the original article that was banned. Two different things.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on June 21, 2020, 13:50
Not surprising, but you can't post a link to the Inside Imaging article on Instagram either (I tried this morning).

The general "problem" message didn't explain, but I was able to post the same text and a link to the Coalition press release without a problem.

I'd suggest posting links to the Coalition press release with text explaining Facebook's totally inexplicable & unjustified ban.

The explanation we received from the Facebook employee who doesn't work in that department, but was trying to explain that Facebook wasn't "evil" as the public & media think it is :) goes something like this

Mentioning "boycott" was the trigger and it was probably an automated process that took the link down - except that the word boycott isn't anywhere in the article

Once the article has been flagged (and removed from everywhere that linked to it), only the person who originally posted the link can "protest" the ban and request a review. So I have no idea who the original poster was, and regardless of how much information I might have about how wrong and unjustified the "ban" is, I can't do anything to formally appeal to Facebook.

Seems to me that in addition to doing diddly squat to deal with serious problems they have on their site with hate speech and misinformation, Facebook has set up a "star chamber" to allow large companies to silence critics.

And I'm sure the more money you spend on Facebook ads, the more your opinion counts.

They really are tossers.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: noodle on June 21, 2020, 13:58
I’m pretty sure I figured out who reported the article to Facebook. We have an active Shutterstock contributor spying on Facebook and in here, which no doubt is why the bitly posts were also removed. I don’t want to say who publicly because I don’t want to accuse someone without being 100% sure.

This the troll who has over 25K snapshots in his port?
What a loser
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Shelma1 on June 21, 2020, 14:03
I’m pretty sure I figured out who reported the article to Facebook. We have an active Shutterstock contributor spying on Facebook and in here, which no doubt is why the bitly posts were also removed. I don’t want to say who publicly because I don’t want to accuse someone without being 100% sure.

This the troll who has over 25K snapshots in his port?
What a loser

I don’t know who you mean, and I don’t really want to say anything specific because it’s just a strong suspicion on my part. I’m sure there are multiple people watching what we do.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: cascoly on June 21, 2020, 16:38


Did you click on this link?
https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf
What happens?
Then you can put the title you want in your facebook post.

I see. You have a bitly link to the article about the Facebook ban of the original article, and we’re trying to post links to the original article that was banned. Two different things.

when i click on the link i get the original article
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: noodle on June 21, 2020, 16:40
I’m pretty sure I figured out who reported the article to Facebook. We have an active Shutterstock contributor spying on Facebook and in here, which no doubt is why the bitly posts were also removed. I don’t want to say who publicly because I don’t want to accuse someone without being 100% sure.



This the troll who has over 25K snapshots in his port?
What a loser

I don’t know who you mean, and I don’t really want to say anything specific because it’s just a strong suspicion on my part. I’m sure there are multiple people watching what we do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3QgDq2TGw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3QgDq2TGw)
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Lizard on June 21, 2020, 19:06
Not surprising, but you can't post a link to the Inside Imaging article on Instagram either (I tried this morning).

The general "problem" message didn't explain, but I was able to post the same text and a link to the Coalition press release without a problem.

I'd suggest posting links to the Coalition press release with text explaining Facebook's totally inexplicable & unjustified ban.

The explanation we received from the Facebook employee who doesn't work in that department, but was trying to explain that Facebook wasn't "evil" as the public & media think it is :) goes something like this

Mentioning "boycott" was the trigger and it was probably an automated process that took the link down - except that the word boycott isn't anywhere in the article

Once the article has been flagged (and removed from everywhere that linked to it), only the person who originally posted the link can "protest" the ban and request a review. So I have no idea who the original poster was, and regardless of how much information I might have about how wrong and unjustified the "ban" is, I can't do anything to formally appeal to Facebook.

Seems to me that in addition to doing diddly squat to deal with serious problems they have on their site with hate speech and misinformation, Facebook has set up a "star chamber" to allow large companies to silence critics.

And I'm sure the more money you spend on Facebook ads, the more your opinion counts.

They really are tossers.

The link states content is flagged abusive. I know for fact FB will disable content if enough people flag it so thats also what might have happened.

What do you think about playing their game then ?

1) We have the numbers, so we are in advantage in flagging and it works both ways so their content is not flag proof.

2) Then we write a nice little article which doesn't violate anything and use FB paid marketing to promote it aiming at their buyers. Targeting those who liked SS we are targeting nice amount of their buyers but also contributors reach is not worthless. And its extremely cheap and effective way to hit where it hurts. If each would donate just 1 dollar we would have few grands. If they flag it we just run the add from next page. There are cca 5000 people in that group with FB accounts.
 
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on June 22, 2020, 07:34
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

Didn’t work for me when I tried the other day.  I got the spam message.
Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Chichikov on June 23, 2020, 00:57
I posted it on Facebook using https://bitly.com (link shortener)
You have no preview of the article, but the link is accepted and clickable.

https://bit.ly/2zQPPKf

Didn’t work for me when I tried the other day.  I got the spam message.

On my page the links are still active, and I'm not getting any spam messages.
I don't understand why it works with some users and not with others.

Title: Re: Facebook gags industry article on Shutterstock shutdown
Post by: Microstock Posts on June 23, 2020, 01:13
Added a video in this post to show the block.

Facebook Blocks Article on the Mass Action against Shutterstock (https://www.microstockposts.com/facebook-blocks-article-on-the-mass-action-against-shutterstock/)