Black Country: Facebook censored local dish chat

Facebook has apologised for censoring a Black Country history group after members discussed a traditional local dish.

The group's administrator said she had "sleepless nights" after the account was threatened with deletion.

The social media giant has since accepted the wording it targeted was used in culinary context.

Facebook blamed the ban threat on technical error.

Members of the Pensnett, Brierley Hill and Black Country Now And Then History Group had been discussing minced pork liver and heart wrapped in bacon when the algorithm picked it up.

Faggots and peas is a traditional dish served in a part of the West Midlands that includes Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Dudley.

"Our systems clearly made a mistake here," a Facebook spokesperson said, accepting a homophobic slur was not the intention.

The group was set up by Linda Beech and for years has shared stories and recipes from the area, with more than 13,000 members.

She said she received a message on Tuesday night to say the group had violated Facebook's community standards 16 times.

"I looked to see what the problem was and it came up that members were using the word but they were using it in the correct context, as our traditional Black Country meal, as opposed to the other meaning," she said.

Shortly afterwards, the number of violations had increased to 34 as further uses of the word were detected as far back as 2016.

"I've had an interesting week," Ms Beech said. "And sleepless nights as well."

Facebook said it was "taking steps to rectify the error", although Ms Beech said the group's use of the word was still being flagged as a violation.

She said she understood why the mistake was made, but added for her and the group, the violation was of her "heritage and culture".

"Hopefully it's all behind us now," she said.

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