The management of the social network Facebook removed the popular page in Israel - 'Tweeting Statuses' this morning (Friday), following an investigation by the newspaper Globes the other day, according to which the page, managed by Avi Len And his partner, Adi Bentov Len, publishes paid content, contrary to Facebook rules.
The reason is still unknown, but it is highly likely that Facebook decided to remove the page in light of the fact that it violated the company's policy regarding the sale and promotion of paid statuses that are not used in Facebook's internal advertising system.
A Globes investigation reported that the Facebook page, which in recent years has become one of the most widespread and popular Israeli pages on the social network, publishes, among all the jokes, consumer complaints, and emotional posts, also advertising content that companies paid money to promote.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Over 718,000 users have "liked" the page, which achieves much higher exposure rates.
Avi Len, the page's operator, published a scathing post last night on 'Tweeting Statuses' and rejected the allegations made against him.
""Hello friends. My name is Avi Len. Anyone who knows me knows: I run the page. I created it after many years of journalistic work at Yedioth Ahronoth, where I was a senior editor. I wanted to do something new and challenging: use Facebook's capabilities to check what the real agenda of Israeli surfers is: what we talk about, what hurts us, what we urgently need to change, what makes us laugh.
""Not what the publishers in the press think should interest us, not what they want to happen – but what we are. We were all once obedient consumers of large media outlets. I thought that times had changed and something new could be done. Without censorship, without capital-government-newspaper, without the tangle of interests of the publisher.".
Len said that 'Tweeting Statuses' reaches three million users, more than the readers of "Yediot Aharonot" and "Haaretz" combined. "More than the listeners of most radio programs, more than the audience of most television broadcasts. You may not be aware of it, but thanks to you, a new, powerful - and unique - media tool has emerged here.
""There is nothing like this in the Israeli landscape, and to the best of my knowledge, nothing similar can be found in the entire world.".
According to him, war has been declared on him and on the page. ''Because that's how it is in the media: everyone is fighting everyone else for the same small market. As part of the war, they are trying to blacken my good name as someone who is willing to sell you cats in a poke.
""They just forgot to tell you something," Len emphasized, "Each of them is fed by huge amounts of advertising and marketing material hidden among their content without the knowledge of the surfers. According to estimates, a third of the content.
""So who else wants to silence tweeting statuses? Who has an interest in undermining the credibility of the posts and voices raised here against poor service, a defective product, and disrespectful conduct? Who was quick to claim, falsely, that social campaigns conducted here were paid for?
""None of us here are stupid. And the well-timed panic they have demonstrated gives them away. They are afraid.".
