Facebook Takes Down Official Page for French Town of “Bitche”

The Facebook page for a small town in France named, Bitche, was taken down on March 19 after the social media’s AI apparently must have deemed the town’s name “Vulgar.”

However, Bitche was not notified of its deletion or given a reason for its disappearance.

So, Bitche created ​a new page. Instead of the word “Bitche,” the town renamed its page after its postal code: Mairie 57230. After the story went viral, Facebook reinstated the original page on April 13^th. The Bitche is Back!

Facebook had censored our Bitche City page.

We appealed and tried to contact Facebook through various means, including through contact forms and private messages on Facebook France's page.

The President General Manager of Facebook France has personally contacted the Mayor to inform him that the City of Bitche page has been published again and to apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused.

Bitche — the e is silent — with a population of around 5,000 -- is a fortress town named for the ‘Siege of Bitche,’ in the early 1870s. It also was a stronghold standing on a rock around 250 feet above the town.

Bitche is also the capital of the Pays de Bitche's region.