Facebook blames glitch for shutdown of Catholic pages

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Facebook is blaming a technical glitch for knocking several Catholic-focused Facebook pages with millions of followers offline for more than a day.

Catholic radio network Relevant Radio says on its website that its “Father Rocky” Facebook page went down on Monday and wasn’t restored until late Tuesday night. It says more than 20 other prominent Catholic pages were also suspended.

The shutdown prompted speculation among some page administrators that they were being intentionally censored.

A Facebook spokesperson apologized for the disruption Wednesday, telling the Associated Press in a statement that all pages have been restored. Facebook said the incident “was triggered accidentally by a spam detection tool.”