Facebook explains decision to ban charity’s advertisements

The internet giant says the adverts, featuring beneficiaries of Flying Scholarships for Disabled People, appeared to be targeted based on ‘sensitive personal attributes’

Facebook has defended its decision to remove adverts for a charity that offers scholarships to teach disabled people to fly aeroplanes.

Yesterday the social media giant said it was investigating why the Gloucestershire-based charity Flying Scholarships for Disabled People was told that its adverts, which featured some of its beneficiaries, could not be run on the website. 

The charity was told in an automated email that its adverts were not acceptable.

The adverts featured the name and photograph of different beneficiaries and named their disabilities, but also explained that they were pilots and encouraged viewers to find out more. 

The automated message from Facebook said “such copy can feel personal in nature and we don’t want users to feel singled out”, according to a report in The Sun newspaper yesterday.

But in a statement today, Simon Milner, Facebook’s policy director for the UK, Middle East and Africa, said the adverts that were rejected had also included additional text underneath the picture, which asked the question, “have a disability?” something not mentioned in The Sun’s report, or the charity’s statement on the issue.

Milner said: “This part of the advert is not allowed on Facebook and here’s why. When a person sees this ad on Facebook they might believe they are being shown the ad because either the charity or Facebook knows or believes they are disabled.

“This is not the case, because Facebook does not allow advertising to be targeted based on sensitive personal attributes. For the same reasons, we don’t allow any ads that imply this.”

He said he believed that the rest of the advert was a great example of a charity using Facebook to tell an inspiring story.

He said he had personally been in touch with one of the charity’s trustees to explain why the adverts had been removed, and to help them make alterations to fit in with the site’s advertising policy.

“We’re sorry that they had this experience on our platform and wanted to take the time here to help explain why this happened,” he said.

No one from the charity responded to Third Sector’s request for confirmation that the adverts in question had contained the extra line of text.

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Facebook investigates why charity’s adverts were banned

The social media giant told Flying Scholarships for Disabled People that its advertising breached its diversity guidelines

Facebook is investigating after it banned a series of adverts for a charity that teaches disabled people to fly.

The Gloucestershire-based charity Flying Scholarships for Disabled People released a series of adverts featuring the name and photograph of some of its beneficiaries, naming their disabilities but also explaining that they were pilots, and encouraging viewers to find out more.

But the charity received a notification from Facebook saying the adverts breached its diversity guidelines and could not be run.

Facebook’s advertising policy state that adverts must not contain content that makes assertions or implications about the attributes of the people who are likely to see them, including “direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s… disability, medical condition (including physical or mental health)”. It also forbids content that discriminates or disparages people.

The charity was told its adverts had been banned in an automated email from Facebook, which said “such copy can feel personal in nature and we don’t want users to feel singled out”, according to a report in The Sun newspaper.

In a statement, Julie Bull, the general manager of the charity, said the success of the charity was down to its volunteers and scholars like those who had featured in the adverts and who wanted to promote the charity in order to reach more disabled people.

“We will leave the public to decide if these very special individuals are being disadvantaged by social media organisations,” she said.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the internet giant was looking into the issue.

“We take the quality of ads on Facebook very seriously and review an enormous volume of ads on a daily basis,” she said.

“Sometimes we make mistakes, and we’re investigating whether these ads go against our policies. We will work with Flying Scholarships to resolve this issue.”

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Charity’s app allows people to report cetacean sightings

Whale Track from the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust was helped by a grant of more than £79,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund

The conservation charity the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust has developed an app to allow people and boat operators to report sightings of whales, dolphins and porpoises off the Scottish coast.

The Whale Track app was made possible by a grant of more than £79,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is available to download to Apple and Android phones and tablets for free.

The app is designed to work in areas with little or no network coverage, so that boat operators, fishermen and other seafarers can share their sightings, and coastal communities and visitors can report their sightings from land.

Of the 92 whale, dolphin and porpoise species in the world, 24 have been spotted off the coast of western Scotland. The app includes a guide to help people identify the marine life they see.

All the scientific data collected by the app feeds into a web portal, allowing anyone to see what sightings have been reported and where.

Registered users will also be able to upload photographs.

Dr. Lauren Hartny-Mills, the charity’s science officer, said: “Whale Track is an exciting innovation that will help to gather crucial data that will improve our understanding of local species of cetaceans – especially coastal species such as bottlenose dolphins and rarer ones including killer whales and humpback whales – and  inform policies to safeguard them.

“By using the technology most of us carry around in our pockets, Whale Track makes recording and submitting sightings of marine mega-fauna more convenient and accessible to everyone. This is important in an area that is difficult to monitor because of the nature of the remote coastline.”

Whale Track has been developed by the mobile app company Natural Apptitude.

Lucy Casot, head of HLF Scotland, said: “Our natural heritage is a most precious resource and, thanks to National Lottery players, Heritage Lottery Fund grants have helped to protect an amazing range of landscapes, habitats and species of plants and animals.

“HLF is delighted to support the Whale Track app, which will stimulate people’s interest in the marine wildlife along Scotland’s west coast and help them conserve it for future generations.”

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