Here's a story we never expected to cover - Animal Crossing: New Horizons players are apparently getting busted by Facebook for talking about weeds.
A story over on Polygon reveals how at least "two different Animal Crossing groups on the platform" have issued PSAs to their communities to stop using certain words. One is "weed" and the other is "trade" and it's resulted in Facebook deleting posts and uploads, and issuing warnings.
One admin of a UK-based Animal Crossing group, which has more than 34,000 members, summed it up nicely:
They must think we’re running narcotics
A Facebook user who is part of another Animal Crossing group added how their own community was at risk of being shut down because they were also regularly talking about dealing with weeds on their tropical islands and trading this and that.
It's all tied to Facebook's community standards that these groups have supposedly breached - according to direct warnings from the social media giant.
As noted by Polygon, when it comes to regulated goods: You can't sell or buy non-medical drugs on the platform, and Facebook is automatically flagging conversation about weeding in Animal Crossing and confusing it with something else. Admins have now been forced to take action:
We are deleting any posts that contain the W plant name
So next time you need some help tidying up your island, just be careful what you say.
[source polygon.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 57
Facebook is a joke, Nintendo should sue them.
I find it pretty cute to think that just as Animal Crossing players banned the w-word and replaced it with something else... so must have the real dealers.
Very useful word detection lol
@mesome713 Sue them for what exactly? No rules were broken.
This is just a case of algorithms being dumb, like what happens on YouTube.
Just say Wiid.
@RileyR or Oui’d
Wait till the hot item of the day is ‘pot’.
@Kalmaro @PBandSmelly Sue them for having a poor safety feature. Facebook should be smart enough to know the difference. Since they cant, then pay the price.
Smoke weeds everyday.
@mesome713 Again, they didn't break any rules, and it's their platform, they can basically remove whatever they want. Nintendo gets no say in this.
The best way to punish Facebook is just not to use Facebook.
Typical Americans, guns are okay. But a normal natural plant isn't.
@Kalmaro i'm amazed people still use facebook, it's been a joke for years now
@PBandSmelly @Kalmaro Facebook is still a joke, I hope they disappear. Herb is more safe than beer or cigarettes. We need to shut them down.
This is hilarious
@mesome713 Your opinion is noted.
@quinnyboy58 It's still pretty convenient, all things considered. My DnD group uses it since not everyone is hip and uses Discord yet, for some reason.
@PBandSmelly Well it's true..
Guns are okay by FB's policy.
Cannabis (wikipedia link, guys) is not.
I live in the Netherlands, and it couldn't be more the opposite here.
Ginga Densetsu Weed.
I made a post asking if anyone wanted the 'speed bag'. They blocked it.
whats wrong with the word trade? theres buy and sell groups on facebook and but trading isnt ok?
get your stuff together facebook lol
Potential words and terms FB could flag as they may seem like drugs but aren't:
Tarantula
Pots
Stone
Trash Plant
Fish
Goods
Justin Beiber
Edit: Let's make this a game! Seven word list about words that FB may flag.
@Saro lol you had me going there
@DarkLloyd thanks.
Yup, I’m in one of those groups, couldn’t stop laughing when the post went up asking us all to not use the word!
@fafonio
As a Brazilian living in France, I loved it
Facebook is absolutely laughable
should be chaging to Sweet Leaf
About time Facebook blocked these groups! The number of times I’ve gone online to buy a bag of marijuana, only to find at the end of the transaction the seller is wanting hundreds of bells?!? It’s enough to drive me to drink...
I saw that, pretty hilarious but also sad.
They could use former Kenyan president's name instead, Mwai Kibaki.
Is that why you can't find a real life gardener on Facebook?
Quitting social media like Facebook in particular is one of the best decisions I have ever made. So much less stress, less arguments, less needless drama, less worrying about if I can say X without causing issues... More time for things I really enjoy, video games, anime, model building and books!
It took me about 10 years to realize it, but social media is not a good thing.
I’m happy facebook is just a bad memory for me now. Just delete your account and have a happy life
I find this worth a good (and in a cool way) laugh! I am not on Facebook so have no skin in the game. However, I do play AC, and it is funny this is a problem...yet no one mentions that DAL airlines takes you to a mystery island and the pilot comments that they have to always burn the maps/routes written down with little to no explanation why. I wonder if DAL always goes 'low and slow' in its to stay off radar.....change the plane to an A500.
Don’t they have mods that actually read posts? Disclaimer: I don’t use social media.
The weeds have become 'The plant that must not be named'.
@Ryu_Niiyama
Yes and no. They do have mods, but they only actually intervene when something is brought to their attention. Most the time most social media platforms use a algorithm to do their policing for them. It saves the company money from having to hire like half the population of a small island to keep up with all the posts on the site.
@sanderev Notice the article said UK. In most of the US said plant is completely legal. Also I hope you know that that natural plant, when smoked, decreases blood flow to your brain. It quite literally makes you dumb. Guns on the other hand are legally protected at a federal level. They are primarily a check/balance against our government (read they get too out of control we take them back) and secondarily for our protection.
@Naoiko would "junk plant" suffice? Or will that be banned as well?
@Heavyarms55 I totally agree, i was a registered user on FB since 09. I took my page down around 2 years ago. Best decision ever as i wasted alot of my time browsing nonsence about stuff i'm not unterested in.
Well, the nooklings give you 10 bells per clump of weeds. Ten bells = a dimebag.
Facebook may be onto something here.
I always found it funny that Leif comes to my island looking to score some weeds.
Anyway, bots will always take everything out of context. Some human should look at the warnings before they go out.
@Saro Lol honestly not sure but it sure is a good name for it. =)
@HeyItsFlapjack That's why you sale em to Lief...he gives ya the best price for your dime bags lmao
@PhatToad Yup. Same here. I was on FB basically since it took off. And at my worst I would spend my entire evening on the site. Hours and hours of my life wasted, usually entirely negatively too. Arguing with people over everything from anime and video games to politics. But the 2016 election cycle in the US was when it got the worst for me. I started losing sleep because I'd see family members spreading outright fake news and open lies. But it wasn't only politics that ruined it. I used to be a member of several "fan pages" for things I really liked. Star Wars, various anime, video games, etc etc. But it rapidly devolved into nothing but nastiness. I couldn't even say things I liked about something without people telling me I liked the wrong part and the part I like is actually the worst thing ever or something...
Part of it did come from my need to respond to people's comments but... I realized that even just seeing all the negativity constantly was making me sick. I was getting angry all the time, losing sleep because I have trouble falling asleep when I feel calm, angry usually means I wont sleep for hours...
Quitting FB was just such an overwhelmingly positive change for my life. I thankfully never used Twitter, even when I liked social media I disliked Twitter for other reasons.
@Heavyarms55 I get you. I also never opened a twitter account. but yeah i get exactly where you're coming from.
FB the China of social media.
Kind of silly if you're aware of the difference and considering it's Animal Crossing, I highly doubt anyone would ever associate willingly with the plant itself. That whole culture is just pure garbage, and give a bad name to those who need it medically or the applications that we can develop with it. It's something I've never imagined a full grown, responsible, respectable adult would even partake in (and I've yet to see a mature adult partake, no you reading this who are offended, it's definitely not you) and when they whine about it when they're caught or some other ****, they just seem worse than any tantrum a typical 2 yr old could throw. Regardless, Facebook is garbage too and while this is funny, it's limiting.
@ComposedJam I think you tagged the wrong person.
@RileyR that's actually a really good idea, since is Nintendo related, calling it wiid is a really smart play on word lol I'm gonna use that! 😆
@Chibi_Manny Facebook has banned the word "wiid" and "Trash Plant" due to it relating to drugs and because the algorithm is stupid. You can see that happening...
@mesome713 are you actually on weed or something?
@GoblinKing86 That's like, you're opinion man
@Kalmaro Yeah algorithms often don't get context.
Just delete Facebook. Sorted.
Facebook is a joke on the best of days, we deserve better than Facebook.
@ComposedJam I'm pretty sure I'm not, as I never said anything about 'herb'
thank goodness you're not talking about the diy pot
@ComposedJam Yes, their opinion on facebook needing to be taken down, as that was what we were talking about. The part about herb was unrelated to our discussion, I'm not sure why it was even added.
Just sitting back with some Coke, checking out my bags of weeds in ACNH. Isabelle is my favorite heroine. I hit a crack with my shovel but I didn't get anything good. The nooklings made me laugh so hard I snorted! I wonder how they can fit all this furniture that weighs several kilos all in a leaf that fits in your pocket?!
Facebook: Come at me bro!
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