The posts by the newsroom, based in the Pacific country of Solomon Islands, were taken off the social media platform for several hours on Thursday after being incorrectly labeled as spam. Other journalists in the region said a small number of posts from news organizations in other countries – including Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa – were also similarly affected.
The majority of blocked posts, however, came from In-Depth Solomons and Facebook restricted all users from posting the website’s URL until early Friday.
In-Depth Solomons’ editor, Ofani Eremae, said Thursday that he believed the takedown was likely the result of a mass reporting campaign orchestrated by critics of the website, that has run investigative coverage into top officials as well as China’s influence in the country.
But a spokesman for Meta, Ben Cheong, said the content was “removed due to a technical error and has been swiftly restored.”
Sarah Logan, a research fellow, said Meta’s response did not fully explain the situation.
"A purely technical error is highly unlikely," Logan said.
The more likely scenario, she said, was that a user or users reported In-Depth Solomons content as spam, prompting automated systems to step in and block the newsroom's recent articles en masse.
The newsroom’s recent investigations include a joint expose with OCCRP into the unexplained wealth of the Solomon Islands former prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare.
OCCRP has also revealed how one of the island country’s main newspapers has taken money from China’s embassy in return for favorable coverage.
In-Depth Solomons was founded in 2023 and became an OCCRP member center in May this year.
Meta did not respond to follow-up questions.
