Filmmaker behind Holocaust movie sues Meta after claiming it was ‘unfairly’ banned from Facebook
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A month after Facebook banned advertising for his Holocaust film, director Joshua Newton and his son are suing parent company Meta Platforms, Inc. for $700 million, for breach of contract, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Newton further claims that Facebook has long been “the subject of anti-Semitic practices.”
In September, a digital media buyer attempted to place ads for the film Beautiful Blue Eyes when Facebook informed the buyer that it could not do so due to the film’s title.
They claimed the title, which refers to the eye color of a child murdered by Nazis, violated the company’s policy against content that contains “direct or indirect claims about one’s race.”
The filmmakers appealed the ruling, but Facebook upheld the ban, writing, “Following a requested review of your Facebook account, we’ve confirmed it didn’t meet our advertising policies or other standards.”
You can no longer advertise with Facebook products. This is our final decision.’
Created in 2009 but only recently completed, the thriller premiered in 431 theaters across the US in early September but failed to advertise itself on Facebook or Instagram.
Due to a problem with one of the cameras used to shoot the movie, some shots were lost. Newton implemented recently developed AI technology to repair the damaged frames, which allowed the film to be released in theaters many years after wrapping.
The film, which marks Roy Scheider’s last appearance — he died in 2008 — played its second week in just five theaters, a reality the Newtons say was due to the Meta ban.
British filmmaker Joshua Newton has filed a $700 million lawsuit against Meta over the ban on all promotional materials related to his Holocaust-exciting Beautiful Blue Eyes.
The film was the last appearance of Roy Scheider who died in 2008
The film was completed in 2009, but one of the cameras it was shot on was damaged. Filmmaker Newton used recently developed AI technology to recreate parts of the project as he originally envisioned them, finally allowing the film to be released in theaters.
The Newtons’ lawsuit alleges that Facebook caused “extreme emotional distress” and that their “lifelong efforts to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, hundreds of them relatives, were dealt an irrevocable blow when they learned that the film had gone unpunished.” proper advertising wouldn’t “reach its intended audience and their voice would essentially be silence—allowing Holocaust deniers to achieve their goal—the exact contradiction of the film’s purpose and Facebook’s promised Community Standards.”
The suit is worth $700 million in damage. That figure works out to $100 million for every Newton for breach of contract and fraud and damages claims, and $500 million for emotional distress.
The thriller is set against the backdrop of the Holocaust. Scheider played a Holocaust survivor who travels to Nuremberg and comes into contact with the former Nazi officer responsible for the death of his family.
Following news that advertising for the film would be “permanently restricted” on the social media giant, Joshua Newton said: “This is the action of haters – and unfortunately there are many in our society – trying to damage the film in order to downplay the Holocaust.’
In a second statement, made to rolling stoneNewton said that by “banning the advertising of the Beautiful Blue Eyes theatrical release, Facebook has contributed to anti-Semitism.”
In the wake of an earlier Rolling Stone story about the ban, Facebook chose to reverse the so-called final decision, which it said was a statement made “wrongly”.
But the family case alleged that “Facebook has historically been known to allow hate speech, racist and anti-Semitic content to flood its platform, despite its offensive, derogatory and dangerous nature.”
As a result of Facebook’s failure to follow its own community norms and guided by its habitual anti-Semitism, the creators of Beautiful Blue Eyes were unfairly and unfairly denied access to the Facebook platform to promote the pre-theatrical release of the film and theme song, which had a negative impact on box office sales and will undoubtedly have a consistent negative effect on sales of ancillary products worldwide,” it reads.
The film follows a New York police officer (Schheider) who has been haunted for decades by the murder of his family in World War II.
When he thinks he’s found the living Nazi responsible for their deaths, he enlists his estranged son – played by Newton’s son, Alexander Newton – to help him get revenge.
The film is about an NYPD officer who finds the former Nazi responsible for the death of his family during the Holocaust. He reunites with his estranged son for revenge
The Newtons are suing Facebook’s parent company Meta for banning advertising for their film and banning Alexander Newton’s promotional music video and personal artist page
In addition to breach of contract and fraud, the Newtons have accused Facebook of having been ‘the subject of anti-Semitic practices’ for a long time
Alexander, who plays the title track of the film, also had a music video he shot for the film banned from Facebook. His personal artist page was also banned.
In a statement of his own, the younger Newton wrote: “My song ‘Beautiful Blue Eyes’ would promote the film to millions of Facebook users.”
“Who forbids a song except a totalitarian regime?” he added.
Curiously, a publicist for the film was also unceremoniously kicked off Twitter after tweeting a link to the first Rolling Stone story about the film being banned from Facebook.
Her account, Ursula Mae, was immediately suspended after she tweeted the link for “violating our rules against circumventing permanent suspension.”
‘Your account has been permanently suspended. After careful scrutiny, we’ve determined that your account has broken Twitter rules,” the company said.
She said she never posted anything on the short social media site that would violate the rules.
The elder Newton – a British filmmaker – is the son of two Holocaust survivors and based the film on the experiences of his late father.