Facebook chaos: Aussie gossip groups wrongly flagged for terrorism

Meta says a ‘technical error’ was to blame after popular Aussie gossip groups were wrongly flagged and suspended under terrorism-related policies, sparking chaos among users.

Some of Australia’s largest Facebook gossip pages were thrown into chaos on Tuesday night after their groups were suddenly and wrongly suspended under claims of breaching “terrorism guidelines.”

Groups including Outspoken the Podcast, So Dramatic! and Tea Time, each with thousands of members, were among those hit in a wave of suspensions for allegedly violating community standards and terrorism-related policies.

A Meta spokesman told Confidential they were aware of a “technical error that impacted some Facebook Groups.” They confirmed Meta was “fixing things now.” Most groups were reinstated by midday Wednesday.

Outspoken The Podcast was one of thousands of Facebook groups suspended for breaching “terrorism guidelines”. Picture: Instagram

Outspoken the Podcast host and Facebook group admin Kate Taeuber said she was rattled by the abrupt suspension of the group she and her sisters had spent five years building.

“We were a little bit nervous to begin with, particularly when we saw Tea Time was down as well,” Taeuber told Confidential.

“But then when we saw it was an international issue, so we thought Facebook will eventually bring it back. So we weren’t too nervous. It was just more frustrating, because we’ve spent a long time building up that community.

Most admins of Facebook groups affected also had their personal accounts locked and suspended for a short amount of time during the “technical error.”

Outspoken The Podcast was one of thousands of Facebook groups suspended for breaching “terrorism guidelines”. Picture: Instagram

According to the group admins, the pages went down around 9.30pm with most returned at approximately 11am. They were flagged for content that allegedly “glorified a terrorist attack, supported violence against a particular group of people and supported or promoted harmful criminal activity such as human trafficking.”

Taeuber, who runs the group and podcast with her sisters Amy and Sophie, initially suspected the take-down was connected to the recent unmasking of Tattle Life’s anonymous owner, sparking suspicions among users that Meta may have started cracking down on gossip forums.

Triplets Amy, Sophie and Kate Taeuber have a very successful podcast - Outspoken The Podcast. Picture Mark Brake

But the issue was far more widespread. Thousands of Facebook groups across the US, Indonesia, Canada, Thailand, Vietnam and beyond were also hit with sudden suspensions.

While Meta hasn’t provided a full explanation, some users suspect AI-driven moderation tools could be behind the glitch.

During the blackout, users trying to access the groups were met with a generic error message: “This isn’t available.”

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