A DistroWatch post claims that Facebook's internal policymakers decided that Linux is malware and labelled groups associated with Linux as 'cybersecurity threats.'

“We tried to post some blurb about distrowatch.com on Facebook and can confirm that it was barred with a message citing Community Standards.”

DistroWatch says that the Facebook ban took effect on 19 January. Readers have reported difficulty posting links to the site on this social notworking platform. Some have told DistroWatch that their Facebook accounts have been locked or limited after sharing posts mentioning Linux topics.

Reports show that "multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed."

Some of the posts were not blocked immediately but .DistroWatch claims a Facebook representative told them that Linux topics would remain on the cybersecurity filter and the DistroWatch writer who complained had their Facebook account locked...

DistroWatch points out the irony: "Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers."