Facebook blocked, then restored, many Catholic pages
July 19, 2017
Facebook blocked access to more than 20 Catholic pages on July 18, without any explanation.
By July 19, the Catholic pages were all apparently restored, but Facebook had still not offered any explanation.
Most of the pages that were blocked were based in Brazil. Several English-language sites were also blocked, however. One Brazilian Catholic administrator was told that Facebook had identified “suspicious” activity on his page, but again no further explanation was given.
One popular American page involved in the temporary shutdown was the “Father Rocky” page, managed by Father Francis “Rocky” Hoffman, the executive director of Relevant Radio, which has nearly 4 million Facebook followers. Like other administrators affected, Father Hoffman said that he had received no explanation for being blocked. Relevant Radio issued a statement saying that the sudden action by Facebook was a “wake-up call.”
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