English
The Facebook social network is banning the sharing of the link to a political opinion column published by Republika. The column, by our regular editorial writer Cvetin Chilimanov, covers the fallout of the major USAID scandal in Macedonia.
Facebook indicates that the column violates their “spam” rules or contains misleading content – without specifying what exactly is misleading. Chilimanov, who has long raised the issue of financial and particularly political abuses in USAID programs in Macedonia, says that he has tried sharing the column multiple times, and it keeps being deleted. Other Facebook users have tried the same, and received the same result – even having their posts deleted if the “offending” link is shared in a reply to the post.
Chilimanov is pointing out one USAID funded organization in Macedonia, which cooperates with Facebook, as the likely perpetrator of this unprecedented move – to delete a clearly marked political opinion by a commentator qualified on the topic, at a time when USAID abuses are the pressing political issue of the day.
I understand that these guys are nervous, because, for once in their lives, they will have to work in the real sector, without having political backing, privileges and grants worth millions of dollars. I can understand if, in their anxiety, they reduced the reach of my post. But to delete it altogether? Incredible, Chilimanov said in a subsequent comment.
A number of prominent individuals, such as Gorazd Rosoklija, Janko Ilkovski, Rabie Sedrak and others have expressed their criticism of Facebook’s decision. You can read the column, which is freely shared on other social networks, here.
