Word 'militia' may have triggered Facebook to freeze Westmoreland Historical Society page

A group whose mission is to preserve and promote Westmoreland County’s historic resources has had its Facebook page shut down, possibly triggered by the non-political use of the word “militia” in reference to local reenactors.

Staff at the Westmoreland Historical Society are baffled and frustrated after Facebook accounts for the nonprofit and some of those associated with the organization were disabled last week.

According to Executive Director Lisa Hays, a “glitch” closed the society’s Facebook page on Sept. 8, while a staffer was attempting to enter a post about an upcoming event. When staff tried to log back on, she said, they received a message indicating the account had been disabled.

Personal Facebook accounts for Hays, two other staffers and a volunteer also were disabled. When they sought an appeal, each received a message from Facebook indicating their account was disabled because “it did not follow our Community Standards. This decision can’t be reversed.”

“No reason was given, and no other recourse was offered,” Hays said, adding that the group’s repeated attempts to reach out to Facebook via phone or email have been fruitless.

“Facebook has been a widely used marketing tool for the Westmoreland Historical Society,” Hays said.

“I feel bad for the historical society, but I feel bad for them, too,” she said of those whose personal Facebook pages were shut down. “They had family album … pictures that were shared. It’s terrible.”

One of those affected “tried to set up another Facebook page with a different email, but they traced it back to her and took it down,” Hays said.

When the Tribune-Review inquired about the disabled accounts on Thursday afternoon, a Facebook representative indicated she would look into the matter.

Hays suspects the accounts may have been shut down because the society has used the word “militia” when posting descriptions of Revolutionary War reenactors involved in events at its Historic Hanna’s Town site in Hempfield.

“Their activities and demonstrations have absolutely nothing to do with anti-American activities,” she said, but she cited media accounts of reenactors in other areas that were portraying historic militia groups and had associated Facebook pages shut down.

The New Republic reported on a Revolutionary War-era militia reenactor active in New England who was banned from Facebook in October. His accounts were restored following an inquiry by the magazine.

Scott Henry of Greensburg, captain of a Revolutionary War reenactment group that often participates in Hanna’s Town events, said the group specifically avoided using its popular name — Proctor’s Militia — when it set up a private Facebook page, so as not to trigger a possible shutdown by the social media giant.

Instead, the group uses its more formal name, the Independent Battalion Westmoreland County Pennsylvania.

“There’s no sense attracting undue attention,” Henry said, adding, “It’s so ridiculous.”

Heather Starr Fiedler, a professor of multimedia who chairs the community engagement department at Point Park University, said algorithms that social media companies use are good at picking up on words such as “militia” that could be a sign of misuse of the platform. But, she noted, those algorithms can’t provide context.

“These rules are in place so hate groups aren’t using the platform and people aren’t distributing misinformation,” she said. “The rules are in place for a good reason, but there’s not a really good escape net for people who have essentially been caught up in these algorithms.”

Fiedler said groups such as the local historical society can find themselves on the short end of a “David and Goliath” situation when attempting to appeal an account shutdown.

She said Facebook’s creation of a 20-member oversight board last year to hear appeals is a step in the right direction. But, she noted, “They’re mostly taking on much bigger cases that have the potential to impact a lot of users around the world.”

In most cases, she said, “There isn’t a lot of recourse aside from requesting a review and filing an appeal, and that takes time. From what I’ve heard, people usually don’t hear back in any kind of a quick manner.”