Is Facebook Afraid of Moon Nazis? Iron Sky Fan Page Closed Down

This morning the creators of the science fiction movie Iron Sky were in for a rude surprise: their Facebook page, which has gathered thousands of fans, was closed down by the administration without any warning. Apparently Facebook considers the idea of a movie about Nazis having escaped to Moon in 1945 and coming back to invade Earth in 2018 as "hateful, threatening or obscene".

Iron Sky is a Finnish-German sci-fi comedy with a budget of over five million euros. Over three million people have seen the teaser of the movie which was published in YouTube in spring of 2008.

Facebook gave no advance warning about closing down the fan page of this movie project and neither does it offer any kind of contact information to complain about the decision. The creators of Iron Sky have been very active in the social media, which is one of the corner stones of the movie project that has garnered a dedicated fan base around the world. The previous project of the creators of Iron Sky was the scifi parody Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, which reached over eight million viewers around the world and gathered around a dedicated fan base, thanks to the internet and word of mouth.

"Businesswise Facebook is not doing itself any favours", commented producer Samuli Torssonen. "The Wikipedia page about WWII and Nazi Germany has more material that can be considered 'hateful or obscene' than our Facebook page. The fact that the removal of the profile of a legitimate business was done without any warning is extremely questionable, especially so because Facebook doesn't offer any way to contact the administration."

"There are many businesses that consider their Facebook presence to be an important part of their marketing. The fact that Facebook can just take down the page of a legitimate business without any warning or any means of contacting them is something most companies don't realize."

"I guess the idea of a Moon Nazi invasion is too much to handle for Facebook", commented director Timo Vuorensola. "I really hope we'll get the page back up and running soon, since the production is starting in the spring and we have a lot of interesting materials lined up for the fans. Luckily Facebook is not the only place on the net where we keep in contact with our fanbase."

"Iron Sky is far from a pro-Nazi movie. It's a comedy about Nazis living on the Moon", commented Tero Kaukomaa, the producer of the movie. "I wonder when they are going to close down the page of Inglourious Basterds. Or Sound of Music, for that matter - that movie has Nazis too."

Contact

Tero Kaukomaa, producer (Blind Spot Pictures): tero@blindspot.fi, +41-792 537 638