Facebook has publicly apologized for a bug that caused significant problems for users yesterday, deleting existing posts, blocking links that had been posted, and hiding images and links. The bug caused several incidents of laughter and tears. 
Some users who were trying to browse the social network at the time reported seeing the following message:
Link Blocked
We believe the link you are trying to visit is malicious. For your safety we have blocked it. Learn more about keeping your account secure. If you think this link should not be blocked, please let us know.
In Greek
Link Blocked
We believe the link you are trying to visit is malicious. For your safety, it has been blocked. Learn more about keeping your account safe. If you think this link should not be blocked, please let us know.
The bug coincided with political unrest in Baltimore, and some users suspected that Facebook was censoring their content:
[tweet_embed id=593891001049214978]
Facebook has blocked content, links, and photos related to #FreddieGray and the #Baltimore protests
Other Facebook users, believing the publications of Greek news channels, believed that they had been hit by a super virus.
Explaining the issue, which appears to have been resolved, a Facebook spokesperson said:
A bug in our system that helps block bad links on Facebook began incorrectly marking some URLs as malicious or inappropriate. As a result, some posts were not showing, while others were blocked completely. We have resolved the issue and all affected URLs have been unblocked. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
The bug occurred in Facebook's system that examines images and automatically removes them from shared links. It was immediately reported on Facebook's developer forums, and technical support promised a quick fix.
So as of this morning the problem seems to have been fixed.
