FACEBOOK has apologised after blocking posts about Plymouth Hoe for being offensive.
Moderators for the social media giant removed posts by locals who were chatting about the popular promenade and famous lighthouse.
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Users who set up a local Facebook group have had to warn other residents to spell the famous attraction as “Plymouth H o e” in future — to avoid their content being deleted.
Hoe is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a sloping ridge.
But in modern times, it has been more commonly used as a disrespectful term for women.
Some members claimed they had been told off by Facebook for bad behaviour and received 24-hour bans.
One user who administers the group said: “Just a quick post to say anyone living in Plymouth h o e, please don’t write it as one word. Facebook are saying it’s harassment and muting people and giving them a ban.”
Locals are now using alternative spellings to try to get round Facebook’s artificial intelligence, which flags up suspicious posts to human moderators.
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Jennie Wills said: “Someone asked me where I swam in Plymouth and I replied ‘Plymouth H O’. I got told off for bad language and couldn’t comment for two days.”
A spokesman for Facebook said: “These posts were removed in error and we apologise.
“We’re looking into what happened and will take steps to rectify the error.”
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