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The City of Philadelphia Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook and Instagram

A Meta spokesperson explains.

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What caused Philadelphia to disappear from Facebook and Instagram?

Thumbs down on Philadelphia disappearing from Facebook and Instagram (image via Getty)

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The City of Philadelphia Mysteriously Disappears From Facebook and Instagram

UPDATE 4/22 2:44pm: The problem has been resolved. Here’s what Meta spokesperson Andy Stone had to say: “We fixed a bug that temporarily prevented people from being able to select Philadelphia as their current location. Or as my Philly advisers suggested I say: youse don’t have to worry, this jawn is now fixed.”

ORIGINAL:

No one is exactly sure when it happened. Some say Wednesday. Some say Thursday. But this much is certain: At some point in the last week, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, disappeared from Facebook. Philadelphia social media was all atwitter over this mystery for much of the weekend.

“Hey, Facebook, what’s going on with ‘Philadelphia, PA’?” wrote one Facebook user last Thursday. “Why was it removed as my current city? Why is it not available as a city to add back to my profile? And why does it seem none of my friends who currently live in Philly have it on their profile either? Why the hate for Philly?”

Indeed, if you look at the profile of anybody who lives in Philadelphia, you will see that Facebook no longer has a place listed for their current city. And if you had Philadelphia set as your original hometown, same deal. Should you want to try to fix this by adding Philadelphia back as your current city or hometown, no dice. The option of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, simply does not exist.

I ran a check on other major cities. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit. I could go on. All of them exist just fine. And from what I can tell, no other places in Pennsylvania have been affected in this way. Pittsburgh is there. My birthplace of Norristown is there. Lancaster? Yes. State College? Yes. Even New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a tiny former coal-mining town of 1,000 people way up yonder in Schuylkill County, still exists, as far as Facebook is concerned.

The problem is affecting Instagram as well, Instagram being part of the Facebook parent company, of course. Philadelphia businesses that previously had Philadelphia included in the addresses on their Instagram profiles now only show street addresses followed by a comma followed by … nothing. Where did the “Philadelphia” go?

So is this just some kind of weird technical glitch? Is Mark Zuckerberg not a big fan of Philadelphia? Or maybe some jilted lover who works for Facebook decided to wipe their ex’s city from the universe? The cause remains unclear. Facebook has yet to reply to my request for an explanation.

Why Would Ornithologists Want to Rename Birds?

Well, ornithologists have been naming birds after scientists for centuries. And many of those scientists were from right here in Philadelphia, a fact that’s not surprising given that Philadelphia is considered the birthplace of American ornithology. But here’s one of the main issues: Some of those ornithologists owned slaves. And so now the American Ornithological Society isn’t just renaming birds that were named after slaveowners, racists or misogynists. They’re gutting the whole program and just renaming any bird that was named after a person. Peter Crimmins has more on this story over at WHYY.

By the Numbers

$9,000: According to this scathing report in the Inquirer about how the office of Sheriff Rochelle Bilal spends money, that’s what the office paid for a silly mascot that rode along with Bilal during the 2023 Thanksgiving Day Parade.

15,000: Square footage of a Bucks County estate that’s about to go up for auction next week. The estate includes not just a hot tub, heated garages, a gazebo, 5,000 square feet of pricey Brazilian cherrywood, an outdoor kitchen, and a gorgeous river view but also an underground bunker! How exciting.

1: Days in the seven-day-forecast that temps are expected to hit 80. The rest is a mix of mid-60s to mid-70s. Kind of like the crowd at Hymie’s on a Saturday morning.

Just Who Is John Fetterman?

That’s what Philly Mag contributor (and former editor-in-chief) Tom McGrath asks in this deep dive into the unorthodox guy that Pennsylvania voters turned into a United States senator.

Local Talent

If you’ve been a longtime fan of Philadelphia sports broadcaster Glen Macnow, you’ll be sad to know that he’s leaving the airwaves soon. Macnow, who’s been at it for more than 30 years, says he’s retiring in July.

And From the Could-Be-Worse Sports Desk …

Playoff time! It was the Sixers vs. the Knicks on Saturday in Madison Square Garden, and there was a powerful Philly connection: The Knicks under coach Tom Thibodeau started three of their four current players who played together on Villanova’s 2016 NCAA Championship team: Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson. (The fourth is reserve Ryan Arcidiacono.) On our lineup: Kyle Lowry, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid, the last of whom scored the first nine Sixers points of the game. It was part of a strong first quarter that saw us up 34-25 at the close.

Things got a little uglier in the second, as the Knicks came back to tie it at 36 in the early going. Lowry picked up his third foul halfway through the second, and the Knicks were thumping the boards. Nico Batum hit a couple of threes, but New York crept ahead as Brunson started hitting. And then Joel hurt himself on a slam dunk and lay on the court with his eyes wide, while Philly fans’ hearts stopped.

https://twitter.com/swxizzy/status/1781830297400541240

Paul Reed came in for him to finish the half, which ended with the Knicks up 58-46 after a 9-0 run. And Joel was back on the floor for the third, thank God. The Sixers had an 8-0 run to get back within five, then three …  back in front to start the fourth, 82-79. It stayed neck-and-neck, but Hart kept hitting threes, and it ended up a New York win, 111-104. Game 2 is tonight, again in New York, tip-off at 7:30 p.m. In other news, as expected, Tyrese is one of the three finalists for the NBA awards’ Most Improved Player.

How’d the Phillies Do?

Well, on Friday, in the opening game of a series with the White Sox, Alec Bohm obligingly spotted starter Spencer Turnbull a 3-0 lead by homering after Trea Turner singled and Bryce Harper walked. In the third — stop me if you’ve heard this — Turner doubled, Harper walked, and Bohm homered again.

https://twitter.com/Dr_Juice1/status/1781466374864323069

Whit Merrifield came through with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, and that was the end of Sox starter Garrett Crochet; Chris Flexen came in. Turnbull, meanwhile, just kept grinding away; he didn’t allow a hit through one out in the seventh, when Gavin Sheets notched a single. Matt Strahm came in to pitch the eighth and gave up a single and a walk but nothing more. It was Orion Kerkering in the ninth, for three outs in a row and the Phils’ fourth straight win.

On Saturday, Zack Wheeler was on the mound for us, and it was Brandon Marsh’s turn to be a hero, as he homered after Bohm walked in the second inning. The Phils tacked on another when Nick Castellanos tripled and Johan Rojas singled him in. Starter Michael Soroko came out in the bottom of the fifth after giving up two singles, leaving Tanner Banks to walk Marsh to load the bases for Castellanos, who singled two more home. One more in the sixth on singles by Rojas, Turner and Harper brought another pitching change, to no avail; Realmuto scored Turner with a sac fly. And in the bottom half, two more runs for us, on a Trea Turner double. After Wheeler allowed the first Sox hit — a single in the eighth — he came out for Seranthony Domínguez. But what an effort!

In the ninth, Ricardo Pinto gave up five runs (and heard it from the crowd), loaded the bases by hitting a batter, and got yanked for José Alvarado, who got the final out on a grounder. Whew. A way-too-scary 9-5 win.

On Sunday, the Phanatic had a birthday and kept up his recent string of throwing pitches at his mom. Kids, don’t try this at home:

The team kept up its recent string of early scoring, getting three runs in the first inning. The White Sox, alas, had two of their own at that point, after a first inning homer with one on by Eloy Jiménez off starter Aaron Nola. The Phils loaded the bases in the third without managing to score, but they got one more in the fourth on a hit by Turner after Rojas singled and stole second. The Sox changed pitchers, but a Harper sac fly and a Bohm double scored two more: 6-2 Phils. A Schwarbomb led off the bottom of the sixth, and his sac fly in the eighth scored the final Phils run in the 8-2 win. Phillies starters are looking strong; Nola went eight innings in this one. And that made two straight series sweeps! They’re on the road against the Reds tonight at 6:40.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.

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