Sask. arts organization's Facebook page that mentioned QAnon reinstated after mistaken 2-week ban
Paved Arts, a non-profit arts organization in Saskatoon, has its Facebook page back up and running after it was disabled for two weeks.
The group was shut down earlier this month after a post was put up promoting an upcoming exhibit that critiques social media and QAnon.
"Our team reviewed the Page and determined that it was disabled incorrectly by our systems and it's since been restored," David Troya-Alvarez of Facebook's corporate communications in Canada told CBC News in an email.
"We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused PAVED Arts and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention."
Paved Arts' page was taken down the same day that rioters descended on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The organization's news release that day was about an exhibit by Montreal artist Clint Enns called Conspiracies in Isolation.
The exhibit is about "thinking through this idea of misinformation, which I think is like the new form of propaganda," Enns said.
The exhibit includes a book made up of images Enns found online.
Facebook did not give an explanation as to why the page was taken down.
David LaRiviere, the artistic director at Paved Arts, said they believe the ban happened because the release had words such as QAnon and conspiracy theory and a photo from the exhibit that may have been linked back to other pages.
LaRiviere said the ban happened so quickly that it was likely a bot had flagged the Paved Arts page.
In a Facebook post from the now reactivated page, Paved Arts said the experience has provoked a number of discussions.
"First and foremost on our minds is the importance of critical dialogue in the arts," the post said. "Censorship, freedom of expression, conspiracy, misinformation and 'Who controls our history/archival information?', and 'Why is this important?' have also been hot topics on Zoom and in chats."
