Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

Congratulations – you have won. Here are the details:

I set up a page as Jeanine Collins Malarsky, Author, under the logo/page “Writing Cheekin”.

During the pandemic, I posted some upbeat photos with short captions to bring encouragement and cheer to my readers. My efforts to boost these posts were very successful.

During the first eight months of 2021, I became so dismayed and scared by the direction of our country under the current leadership, that I began blogging my honest opinions and perspectives about issues of national concern.

Using Facebook’s BOOST option, I expanded my reach from 15 readers to 2,618 for one week’s post. Clearly this was good value for a cost of $10.00. Engagements (emoticons, comments and shares) reached 588 on that one post. I felt it was an equitable exchange, larger audience for a fee. I boosted another post, and then a third. Then I hit the Facebook censorship wall.

Your organization, Facebook, now named Meta, has been rejecting subsequent posts, insisting my posts fall into your category: Social Issues, Elections or Politics. Facebook required verification including: name, physical address (FB mailed a code to my home address), email address, phone number, AND, back and front of a personal ID – I provided my state driver’s license.

After Meta confirmed verification of my private information, they accepted a rejected post for boosting. The next week’s post about ‘vaxxers versus anti-vaxxers’ was rejected, twice.

Within the past week, Meta changed requirements for posting about: Social Issues, Elections or Politics, stating, “Updated Category - Ads about social issues, elections or politics are now included in the Special Ad Category.”

“Special Ad Category” requires another process of verification, this time requiring submission of documents proving I am an organization. I am not an organization. I dug deeper into the rules for compliance and uncovered an option that allowed submission of my Schedule C from my annual tax return which would verify me as a bona fide author, reporting income and expenses to the IRS for my writing activities. I didn’t like that option but believed in what I was writing enough to provide it. Guess what? Meta required my Schedule C display an IRS stamp. Are your people actually that far removed from our planetary system?

My husband and I file a joint return using the services of a professional firm who files our returns electronically. IRS tax stamp? That would be as rare today as an honest politician.

You win. I am seventy-seven years old and have no desire nor energy to take on Facebook, Meta, who whomever you identify as today.