Weeks after Facebook suspended a longstanding group where Arlingtonians shared memories of growing up in the county, the group has been restored.
“I Grew Up in Arlington, VA” was back online as of yesterday (Monday) morning, co-moderators Eric Dobson and David Tyskowski told ARLnow.
The group of more than 21,000 users had been suspended, along with the two moderators’ personal accounts, in January over allegations of violating community standards. The moderators learned of Facebook’s decision when the platform notified Tyskowski about his personal account’s restored access.
Facebook owner Meta did not specify why the group’s removal was reversed, but told Tyskowski in a message, “sometimes we need to take action to help keep our community safe.”
“We were pursuing a number of paths to resolution and aren’t sure which was the most successful,” Dobson told ARLnow. “Just pleased to have the group back in action. It is a great source of storytelling and sharing of [the] experience of growing up in Arlington across many decades.”
The Facebook group was suspended during the week of Jan. 5, prompting inquiries from group members who could no longer view its posts. The company reportedly accused them of violating standards against solicitation of children — claims that moderators strenuously denied.
Dobson previously told ARLnow that an AI-driven algorithm may have misinterpreted some users’ posts with pictures of their childhood sports teams in Arlington.
The mistake is similar to a technical issue that affected many Facebook groups around the world last year. The company previously backtracked on a widespread purge of Facebook groups last summer, where many admins reported receiving unsubstantiated messages from Meta accusing them of violating community standards.
