Meta has admitted to a mistake in the removal of Hillsdale College’s Facebook page, which was taken down the same day the institution introduced a controversial course on Marxism and related ideologies.
On Monday evening, Hillsdale College’s online course page, which boasted over 300,000 followers, was abruptly shut down. This incident coincided with the launch of a new course addressing Marxism, socialism, and communism. The college quickly highlighted the timing on X (formerly Twitter), accusing Facebook of blocking access to their course materials on “repressive ideologies.”
A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, clarified to Fox News Digital that the page was removed by mistake and was reinstated before the company’s inquiry about the issue.
Emily Stack Davis, Hillsdale College’s Executive Director of Media Relations and Communications, expressed frustration over the incident. She stated that the removal of the page for nearly 100 hours was linked to advertisements mistakenly flagged by Facebook—ads that had been running for over a year on a different page. Davis emphasized the unfortunate timing of the incident, coinciding with the course’s launch on Marxism.
Davis further explained that the disruption severely impacted the college’s enrollment, as Facebook accounts for a significant portion of their online course registrations. She criticized Meta for not providing a satisfactory explanation and underscored the loss of potential students and access to important academic content.
Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian liberal arts institution in Michigan, has seen a 53% increase in applications as of April 2022. The college’s traditional approach to education has gained traction as an alternative to what some view as increasingly progressive curricula in U.S. higher education.
The controversy surrounding Meta’s action coincides with a broader political climate. Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris proposed a federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries, a measure intended to curb corporate exploitation. This proposal has faced criticism from major news outlets and has been likened to communist price control policies by former President Donald Trump.
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