334 days

Rosa Golijan

Facebook: We didn't mean to remove Roger Ebert's page

Twitter users are in an uproar after hearing that the Facebook page belonging to film critic, screenwriter, and cancer survivor Roger Ebert was removed. What happened?

Ebert posted the notice he received from Facebook — which appears to be an automated pop-up message — on Twitter and suggested that the removal was most likely due to "one or two jerks" maliciously complaining.

There are no details as to what those individuals would've been complaining about, but we would hazard a guess that it was related to the backlash Ebert experienced after a controversial tweet about the death of "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn.

The tweet in question proclaimed that "[f]riends don't let jackasses drink and drive," and was a commentary regarding allegations that Dunn was intoxicated at the time of the accident which caused his and a passenger's deaths. After Ebert posted this tweet, there were a great deal of negative and malicious responses both on Twitter and Facebook.

When we contacted Facebook for explanation of the removal, we were told that "[t]he page was was removed in error" and that the folks at the social network were sorry "for the inconvenience." The social network did not choose to elaborate if or how the temporary removal was related to Ebert's tweet or the backlash from it.

At this time, Ebert's Facebook page appears to be up and running once again.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the social network has temporarily banned Ebert. At the beginning of the year, one of the critic's blog posts was blocked due to "abusive content." The post had been entitled "Leading with my chin," and, as explained by our own Helen A.S. Popkin, included details Ebert’s two–year journey into the development of the jaw prosthetic. The post included images, though none of a medically graphic nature.

Related stories:

• Facebook calls Roger Ebert's blog 'abusive content'
• What happens on the Internet every 60 seconds
• Roger Ebert derided after tweet on Ryan Dunn's death

Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook.