Meta Restricts Century-Old Soda Brand After Misidentifying It as Alcohol

Meta Platforms has restricted the social media accounts of a 111-year-old non-alcoholic beverage manufacturer after automated moderation systems erroneously flagged the company as an alcohol brand. The designation has placed strict age gates on the soft drink producer's content and limited its promotional reach.

The error was detected when the company's leadership noticed a sharp decline in digital audience engagement. Upon review, officials discovered their brand channels had been classified alongside regulated spirits and beer vendors, effectively blocking younger demographics from viewing regular product updates.

The soda company's president stated that repeated attempts to correct the misclassification through standard online reporting portals have failed to resolve the issue. Corporate leadership has been unable to establish contact with a human customer service representative, leaving the automated restrictions active.

Automated moderation relies heavily on machine learning algorithms to monitor commercial accounts across global platforms. Industry observers note that the lack of direct human oversight frequently leaves small- and medium-sized enterprises without a clear path to dispute algorithmic errors.

The beverage maker's commercial accounts remain subject to the content filters as the company attempts to escalate the matter. Meta has not issued a direct response regarding the status of the account restrictions.