Sealskin designer's Facebook page restored after unpublished 'in error'

A Newfoundland designer and artisan is able to post her sealskin products on Facebook again, after the social media giant temporarily unpublished her page, but she says peopleneed more education about the industry.

Clare Fowler's page, Clare Dawn Studios, was taken down Tuesday, but by Thursday morning, Facebook had restored it, saying it had removed it in error.

Herpagewas inundated earlier this week by seal hunt protesters.

People would walk up to my studio and look me in the face and say,'How could you do this?'- Clare Fowler

"The last 72 hours has been absolutely bananas," Fowler said.

"I hadn't expected Facebook to respond so quickly, I expected this to drag on for a few more days."

Facebookunpublished Fowler's page, which she also usesto promote the positives of the seal hunt, after it caught the attention of a growing number of detractors.

"I checked my Facebook in the evening and there was like a couple dozen messages and posts on my Facebook site. And it was all of these disparaging comments," Fowler said."And then some got even more nasty. And then when I woke up the next morning and checked, it had just exploded."

People were going back through historical posts on the page, and replying to people who left complimentary comments on her products things ranging from earrings and slippers to baby bunting bags.

"Hundreds of people had come into my site and just decided without knowing me, without knowing why I do what I do, just decided that I was the most vile person ever to walk the face of the earth and that because they didn't agree with me, I should end," she said.

Commenters were saying her life should end, that she was a vile creature, and even, Fowler said, "I should be clubbed myself."

With the influx of attention, Fowlersaid she wanted to post daily updates trying to educate people on the seal hunt and its relevance to the province.

When she went to make a post on Tuesday, it wouldn't send. She then realized her page had been unpublished.

"It looks like recent activity on your page doesn't follow the Facebook Page Policies," readanotice at the top her of screen.

By early Thursday morning, Facebook had restored Fowler's page, saying it had been unpublished incorrectly, according to a spokesperson.

They've taken this one thing they don't understand and decided it's the worst thing.- ClareFowler

"We recognize the deep importance of seal and other animal products to Canadian communities and want to clarify that products like the one the seller posted are allowed for sale on our platform," the Facebook spokesperson said in a statement."The Page was removed in error and the Page admin is encouraged to repost the items for sale. We apologize for this mistake and value the feedback that helped us identify and correct it as quickly as possible."

Facebook has apologized in the past for removing ads for sealskin products from its pages, most recently in January, saying they are being accidentally flagged by its system.

Faced backlash in person

Fowler, meanwhile, said she's no stranger to taking heat for her work. It started when she was set up at the Quidi Vidi Plantation, where people could view her work.

"It was in that space where I really felt the first waves of the negative pushback," she said."I hadn't realized it was intense as it was. People would walk up to my studio and look me in the face and say, 'How could you do this?' Don't you know how wrong this is?"

She would engage in "intense" conversations with people upset by her work mostly tourists, she said, but also the occasional local.

Some were open to questioning their viewpoints, she said, while others were staunch in their opposition.

Fowler said people had leapt to her defence since her page was unpublished, writing messages to Facebook in support of her business.

Fowler said she's never let her detractorsstop her work, and the online opposition will be no different.

"I'm not just going to roll over and take somebody else's opinion who [doesn't] know me. They don't know the province. They don't know our people. They've taken this one thing they don't understand and decided it's the worst thing," she said.

In the future, though, Fowler said she plans to include a bit more information and history about the seal industry along with the photos of her new creations.

"Those groups think that we're just using [seal] for fashion, and we're not."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador