The Norfolk waterway that is too rude for Facebook – Great Yarmouth Mercury

Published:
6:00 AM September 15, 2021
Updated:
7:56 AM September 15, 2021
A social network’s algorithms have filtered mention of a perfectly innocent Norfolk waterway.
A post about tranquil Cockshoot Dyke was removed by Facebook because it goes against community standards and constitutes “hate speech”.
Facebook filters took issue with mention of Cockshoot Dyke on its platform leading the community page’s administrators to spell it out with spaces in between.
– Credit: supplied by Steve Burgess
Steve Burgess, a businessman and administrator on the Facebook page Love the Norfolk Broads said the issue arose when a member posted she had moored along the popular stretch, the old entrance to Cockshoot Broad.
Her reference combing the words cock, shoot, and dyke was promptly removed by automatic filters, a notification citing both violence and sexual content as the reason.
Mr Burgess who runs two fishing tackle shops, a gift shop, and boat hire at Womack Staithe, Ludham, said he saw the funny side.
The combination of the words cock, shoot and dyke as in Cockshoot Dyke has triggered a red flag on Facebook. Pictured is Cockshoot Broad.
– Credit: Richard Osbourne
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“It is quite common,” he said. “It’s a daily occurrence.
“In this case they have put two and two together and got 58.
“You’ve got to laugh.”
“It is a bit Big Brother-ish,” he said. “But it does make sense.
“When you think of the millions of people using it, it is the only way it can be done,” he said.
The 61-year-old said people talking about fishing spots often fell foul of the filters, and that he had been banned from posting pictures for 24 hours for bullying himself.
“A picture of me was posted and I commented that I looked fat and was banned,” he said.
Cockshoot Broad is a haven for wildlife but a dyke of the same name has been tagged ‘hate speech’ by Facebook.
– Credit: Archant
Mr Burgess said much of the misunderstanding arose because Facebook algorithms were based on American English which didn’t recognise the peculiarities of British place names.
To get round the issue on the page he spelled out the name using spaces between each letter.
“The irony is,” he added. “You see so much that is really obscene or violent or sexual but nothing is done.”
People commenting suggested it should be called “The waterway that shall not be named” while admitting it did give them “a giggle”.
Plymouth Hoe and Devil’s Dyke in Sussex have reportedly also fallen foul of the automated system.
Other people have since been able to post about Cockshoot suggesting some users are more prone to censorship than others depending on their history.
Cockshoot Dyke offers around 15 free moorings and is popular with boaters and anglers.
Other places that sound a bit rude
A scan around the county reveals Facebook could have a field day if it were feeling particularly easily offended.
Notable mentions go to Three Holes, a hamlet on the Norfolk and Cambridgeshire border and Two Mile Bottom campsite near Thetford and Stiffkey.
But top honours have to go to Slutshole Lane, Besthorpe, Cock Street and Hooker Road in Norwich, Dick’s Mount in Beccles, and Trumpery Lane in Norwich.
Updating Special Ad Audiences for housing, employment, and credit advertisers

On June 21, 2022 we announced an important settlement with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will change the way we deliver housing ads to people residing in the US. Specifically, we are building into our ads system a method designed to make sure the audience that ends up seeing a housing ad more closely reflects the eligible targeted audience for that ad.
As part of this agreement, we will also be sunsetting Special Ad Audiences, a tool that lets advertisers expand their audiences for ad sets related to housing. We are choosing to sunset this for employment and credit ads as well. In 2019, in addition to eliminating certain targeting options for housing, employment and credit ads, we introduced Special Ad Audiences as an alternative to Lookalike Audiences. But the field of fairness in machine learning is a dynamic and evolving one, and Special Ad Audiences was an early way to address concerns. Now, our focus will move to new approaches to improve fairness, including the method previously announced.
What’s happening: We’re removing the ability to create Special Ad Audiences via Ads Manager beginning on August 25, 2022.
Beginning October 12th, 2022, we will pause any remaining ad sets that contain Special Ad Audiences. These ad sets may be restarted once advertisers have removed any and all Special Ad Audiences from those ad sets. We are providing a two month window between preventing new Special Ad Audiences and pausing existing Special Ad Audiences to enable advertisers the time to adjust budgets and strategies as needed.
For more details, please visit our Newsroom post.
Impact to Advertisers using Marketing API on September 13, 2022
For advertisers and partners using the API listed below, the blocking of new Special Ad Audience creation will present a breaking change on all versions. Beginning August 15, 2022, developers can start to implement the code changes, and will have until September 13, 2022, when the non-versioning change occurs and prior values are deprecated. Refer below to the list of impacted endpoints related to this deprecation:
For reading audience:
- endpoint gr:get:AdAccount/customaudiences
- field operation_status
For adset creation:
- endpoint gr:post:AdAccount/adsets
- field subtype
For adset editing:
- endpoint gr:post:AdCampaign
- field subtype
For custom audience creation:
- endpoint gr:post:AdAccount/customaudiences
- field subtype
For custom audience editing:
- endpoint gr:post:CustomAudience
Please refer to the developer documentation for further details to support code implementation.
First seen at developers.facebook.com
Introducing an Update to the Data Protection Assessment

Over the coming year, some apps with access to certain types of user data on our platforms will be required to complete the annual Data Protection Assessment. We have made a number of improvements to this process since our launch last year, when we introduced our first iteration of the assessment.
The updated Data Protection Assessment will include a new developer experience that is enhanced through streamlined communications, direct support, and clear status updates. Today, we’re sharing what you can expect from these new updates and how you can best prepare for completing this important privacy requirement if your app is within scope.
If your app is in scope for the Data Protection Assessment, and you’re an app admin, you’ll receive an email and a message in your app’s Alert Inbox when it’s time to complete the annual assessment. You and your team of experts will then have 60 calendar days to complete the assessment. We’ve built a new platform that enhances the user experience of completing the Data Protection Assessment. These updates to the platform are based on learnings over the past year from our partnership with the developer community. When completing the assessment, you can expect:
- Streamlined communication: All communications and required actions will be through the My Apps page. You’ll be notified of pending communications requiring your response via your Alerts Inbox, email, and notifications in the My Apps page.
Note: Other programs may still communicate with you through the App Contact Email.
- Available support: Ability to engage with Meta teams via the Support tool to seek clarification on the questions within the Data Protection Assessment prior to submission and help with any requests for more info, or to resolve violations.
Note: To access this feature, you will need to add the app and app admins to your Business Manager. Please refer to those links for step-by-step guides.
- Clear status updates: Easy to understand status and timeline indicators throughout the process in the App Dashboard, App Settings, and My Apps page.
- Straightforward reviewer follow-ups: Streamlined experience for any follow-ups from our reviewers, all via developers.facebook.com.
We’ve included a brief video that provides a walkthrough of the experience you’ll have with the Data Protection Assessment:
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The Data Protection Assessment elevates the importance of data security and helps gain the trust of the billions of people who use our products and services around the world. That’s why we are committed to providing a seamless experience for our partners as you complete this important privacy requirement.
Here is what you can do now to prepare for the assessment:
- Make sure you are reachable: Update your developer or business account contact email and notification settings.
- Review the questions in the Data Protection Assessment and engage with your teams on how best to answer these questions. You may have to enlist the help of your legal and information security points of contact to answer some parts of the assessment.
- Review Meta Platform Terms and our Developer Policies.
We know that when people choose to share their data, we’re able to work with the developer community to safely deliver rich and relevant experiences that create value for people and businesses. It’s a privilege we share when people grant us access to their data, and it’s imperative that we protect that data in order to maintain and build upon their trust. This is why the Data Protection Assessment focuses on data use, data sharing and data security.
Data privacy is challenging and complex, and we’re dedicated to continuously improving the processes to safeguard user privacy on our platform. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to build a safer, more sustainable platform.
First seen at developers.facebook.com
Resources for Completing App Store Data Practice Questionnaires for Apps That Include the Facebook or Audience Network SDK

Resources for Completing App Store Data Practice Questionnaires for Apps That Include the Facebook or Audience Network SDK
First seen at developers.facebook.com
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