One meme was enough to spill the beans for Meta in the case of Michał Marszał. The account of one of the most popular Internet creators in Poland was banned after he posted a drawing of the famous Internet frogs Pepe watching Eurovision.
We know why Michał Marszał was banned
Michał Marszał has not been working entirely alone in recent years and, together with other creators such as Make Life Harder or Donald.pl, he has gained a large group of observers among young people and the so-called millennials. These accounts often reposted their posts on the Internet, and this is why we know why Michał Marszał was banned on Instagram. The blame lies with Meta’s algorithms, which found the frog meme about watching Eurovision to be in violation of the community rules. The same drawing was retweeted by Make Life Harder and their entry also disappeared. MLH avoided the ban, but
The entry concerns Eurovision and may have been included in the automatic selection of Eurovision posts containing profanity. This year, the song competition, held in Malmo, Sweden, was widely criticized and came under special attention of Meta employees. These are mainly entries criticizing the organization of the competition, during which open support for Palestine was banned, and those loudly talking about the war that Israel is waging in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, in Michał Marszał’s post (and later in MLH), cartoon frogs watching Eurovision spoke using one of the most popular vulgarisms in Poland.
Additionally, the image of “Pepe the Frog” itself has been associated with hate speech in some countries for years. In 2016, American Democrats noticed that the frog was associated with anti-Semitic content and the so-called “white supremacy”, supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump. The creator of the frog, Matt Furie, also spoke at the time and was not happy that his cartoon work was associated with hate speech and politics. Perhaps the juxtaposition of a frog with Eurovision and vulgarity was too much of a test for the algorithms that run Instagram and Facebook:
What was Michał Marszał banned for? Photo Make Life Harder / Instagram
Michał Marszał ran one of the popular social media accounts. Even as the “admin of ‘Tygodnik NIE'”, and later under his own name and surname, he publicized government scandals (regardless of political views), mocked absurd situations in power, but also encouraged, among others, to participate in the parliamentary elections, he publicized socially important information and was one of the people keeping a close eye on the authorities. His posts were followed by nearly half a million people on Instagram. For many Poles, it is one of the basic sources of information about what is currently happening in Polish politics.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
