Eleanor Tiernan falls victim to strict rules

It has been criticised for allowing extremism and dangerous misinformation to spread unfettered – and even for airing footage from the Christchurch massacres live.

But now Facebook has got tough on the content that’s really tearing at the fabric of society: observational stand-up material about hand-dryers.

The social media giant got tough with Irish comedian Eleanor Tiernan when she tried to use a clip of her routine – which even she described as ‘the blandest piece of stand up ever’ – to advertise her forthcoming show in Auckland, New Zealand.

Facebook’s filters deemed the video offensive and refused to allow her to use it as promoted content.

In the routine, filmed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last month, she jokes about how the Dyson Airblade means you ‘get to watch your own flesh being blown around your bones and you suddenly become aware of how fragile life actually is.’

In that moment, she realises: ‘I’ve got to get my shit together, I could die any second.’

But because the clip includes the word ‘shit’, the Facebook bots banned her from promoting the clip, because ‘it uses profanity, implied profanity or insulting language (e.g. shit, ass or f*** yeah!)’, adding: ‘This type of language can offend users, and goes against our core value of fostering a positive global community.’

‘They went on to advise me to edit the video to bring it in line with their policy,’ Tiernan told Chortle. ‘As you can imagine I think the fact that this is happening in New Zealand is particularly stupid and the height of hypocrisy.’

She’s trying to fight the ban, but in the meantime here’s the offending clip:

Auckland, NZ. I'm coming to do some shows for you and this is the kind of thing I do. 14-18th May. Pls book tickets and share! https://t.co/k2tqg4aEmr@NZComedyFest #auckland #comedy #nzcf pic.twitter.com/uNGI93pbKO

— Eleanor Tiernan (@eleanortiernan) April 19, 2019

Published: 7 May 2019