Pascal Ruffy, a photographer by trade, lives in Fismes (Marne). He publishes many beautiful animal photographs on his Facebook account… which is regularly blocked due to too much activity.
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It’s hard to imagine a group of fox cubs arousing the wrath of Facebook’s powerful algorithm. And yet, that’s the case, or rather, the case of the account where their photo was posted.
Pascal Ruffy is a former banker. After 35 years of career, and close to retirement, he gave it all up so as not to lose his mind, after a burnout. And he started taking pictures: portraits, weddings… pure joy.
He finds happiness in nature. It is in the countryside and the forest that he takes incredible pictures of animals that you don’t see in the city: deer and foxes in particular. Animal photography is therefore his hobby, his passion, which he willingly shares online.
On Facebook, his fans love it. But Mark Zuckerberg’s social network wouldn’t hear it that way. On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, the photographer published a long message explaining that he seemed to have been blocked (for the sixth time this year, he told us), apparently because he was responding too much to the many comments he receives (see publication below).
France 3 Champagne-Ardenne contacted him to find out more. “In 2018, I met a fox. And I spent three months with her, almost every day. She introduced me to her cubs.” The first in a long list of interactions with the four-legged inhabitants of the fields and forests…
Taking these shots requires a certain amount of organization. And a lot of patience. “For example, this morning, at 4:30 a.m., I left for a forest. It’s true that it’s complicated to get up at 3:30 a.m., especially since you can’t take pictures because it’s dark. But twenty meters away from me, because it’s dark, I can see extraordinary animals, which make me experience magnificent moments.” Animals that are not frightened. Which can then be photographed, after a long wait, when the day finally breaks. Recently, some imposing deer.
He also has some “adventures” not trivial. At the end of August, his path crossed that of a roe deer (a young male roe deer), in a bad situation near a road. He guided it to a less dangerous area, not without allowing it to quench its thirst directly from his hand. “We walked 400 meters. As soon as I stopped petting him, he stopped and looked at me. And yet I had never met him.” (see Facebook video below)
Previously, these were “raccoons that came to eat out of my hand”. Amazing animals, which have even been found on the roof of a church.
His first Facebook page (Pascal Ruffy photographies) was created in 2015. And will get him into trouble following a hack in 2023. “Afghans released videos of beheadings after hacking my page.” We are a little far from the cute fox cubs.
Obviously, Facebook didn’t appreciate it too much. A blockage took place, and the Picardy photographer had to show his identity card to regain access.
Young foxes approach the photographer.
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© Pascal Ruffy
Here we go again three weeks later, with his messaging as a bonus, and this time, he definitively loses control of his old page, which starts publishing content from Vietnam pretending to be him… and apparently, (paid) advertisements aimed at scamming tourists. “Facebook was asking me for 25,000 euros because the people who had been scammed were coming back to me. I had to prove my identity again. Whereas I never wanted to make a single euro on the back of nature. It’s voluntary work.”
He therefore recreated a new Facebook page (Pascal Ruffy Nature). “I started from scratch. On the other page, I had 25,000 subscribers, a million views, over 1,000 comments…” At the same time, he continues to use and feed his original Facebook account (Pascal Ruffy). It is this account that is “accused” of interacting too much with his fans. “Facebook blocked my account four times in two months.”
“I even got a notification saying that I had posted pornographic images. I don’t understand anything. I share furry animals, not furry humans!” (which we actually see in the France 3 Champagne-Ardenne report, in the video visible below).
The old page is apparently inactive, but still exists. “Facebook is not intervening. I have sent them about ten messages over the past year asking them to delete it. No one is doing anything, no one is responding to me. When you go to my old page, you can clearly see that I am not the administrator.”
Regarding blocks for too much (legal) activity, the responses to messages and comments are an assumption. “Now, after the pornographic images that I am accused of having published, four times in the space of two months, I have been blocked for ‘unusual movements’…”
“My friend and I, who knows a bit about it, concluded that it’s because there are a lot of comments on some of my posts. And that for years, on Facebook, I’ve gotten into the habit of responding in full to all the comments. So my friend told me: try to respond a little less, just put ‘Likes’. Because it seems that the Facebook algorithm doesn’t like that.”
If the problem does not improve, Pascal Ruffy does not rule out recreating an email address and a new Facebook account at the beginning of next year. “But not right away. I get a lot of professional requests for the end-of-year holidays.” Particularly from stores in Fismes (Marne), where he lives (see the map below).
However, he hopes it will not come to that. “My boyfriend and I checked everything again. Apparently, it’s fine. But hey, that’s what we said last time…” In the meantime, he hopes to be able to continue “to show beautiful things”.
For its part, Facebook (or rather the Meta group, its parent company), had not yet responded to the publication of this article, despite several days of waiting.
