Board game dev says Facebook rejected ads for game about the Supreme Court

Facebook is banning ads for a game based on the history of the United States… again. Ads for the Kickstarter campaign of Fort Circle Games’ First Monday in October — a board game by Talia Rosen about the history of the United States Supreme Court — have been rejected by Facebook, according to an article by BoardGameWire. Fort Circle had allocated roughly $25,000 on Meta advertising, estimating that amount would convert to $100,000 in Kickstarter contributions from Facebook ads alone. As of this story’s publication, the Kickstarter had raised roughly $73,000, with only 14 days left.

This marks the second instance the board game company has been subjected to this level of advertisement suppression by Facebook over its historical games. A Kickstarter campaign for the second printing of Votes for Women, Fort Circle’s game about the battle for women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th amendment, faced similar issues on the social media platform in January. Fort Circle founder Kevin Bertram was informed at the time on Facebook’s business platform that Fort Circle’s ads had been rejected, according to BoardGameWire coverage from January.

The language used in the rejection claimed it was because Votes for Women’s ads were about “sensitive social issues” and their presence on the platform could “influence how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” For clarity, the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 and women’s suffrage was not on the ballot in 2024, though Bertram said he believes the notice he received is generic and not related to the then-impending 2024 election.

In mid-November, Fort Circle once again received a takedown notice for its ads about First Monday in October, which likewise is about historical events, focusing on the history of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 2010. In an email to todayeducationnews, Bertram stated the reasoning Meta provided was the same as in the January notice. Meta did not reply to a request for comment.

This news comes days after Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs told reporters that “error rates” and “moderation failures” for the company’s automated tools, which were initiated during the early phase of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, are “still too high.” During the press call, Clegg said, “Too often, harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, and too many people get penalized unfairly.” These moderation issues come after years of public outcry and legal action targeting Meta’s alleged lack of action regarding disinformation, child abuse, and suppression of political speech — which includes political and historical content like First Monday.

“At Fort Circle, we have a very clear idea of the role we want to play in our hobby, in our society and within our democracy,” Bertram told todayeducationnews. “What Meta has made clear is that the world’s largest social media company does not know what role it wants to play in our society and in our democracy. It is so disinterested, it’s handed over that responsibility to algorithms and bots. So rather than helping, they’re hurting. But it makes Fort Circle that much more determined to accomplish what we’ve set out to do.”

When asked if he would use different advertising methods due to these recurring issues, Bertram told todayeducationnews that this has forced his hand.

“[It] is unfortunate because no other platform allows advertisers to reach their desired audience with such precision. A board game — particularly a board game on legal history — has a pretty niche audience.”

While board games are primarily an entertainment medium, Bertram also stated that Fort Circle’s mission is also one of political education.

“We know people are not going to start diving into academic tombs on the role of the Supreme Court in our democracy. Most non-lawyers won’t even recognize the names of many of the landmark cases in the game,” he said, noting that Fort Circle partners with non-profits like the Supreme Court Historical Society to ensure historical accuracy in its games.

“We think Faulkner was right when he said, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.‘ Whether we’re talking about women’s rights and the century long struggle depicted in Votes for Women or First Monday in October’s study of the evolving role of the Supreme Court in shaping American freedoms, the events of the past are living breathing things we’re contending with in 2024. You only need to glance at the headlines to understand that.”