By Matt Agorist
In one of the most disturbing moves by Facebook weve ever seen, the platform banned Alex Jones and other controversial U.S. political personalities for violating the social media companys policies on dangerous individuals and organizations.
Most of the individuals whove been unilaterally wiped off the face of the largest social media space in the world are far right activists like Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson. However, in a seeming move to appease those on the right who advocate for equal censorship, Facebook also banned far left Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
While Facebook has previously banned Infowars from their platform, they allowed personal pages to stay up, but this was apparently too much for the platform to handle. Yes, some of the things Infowars and Alex Jones say are utter nonsense and borderlines on hysterical Islamaphobia. The Free Thought Project has on more than one occasion written entire pieces condemning some of the things said by Alex Jones and the other folks at Infowars.
Never, however, have we advocated for the silencing and banning of any group. But this time, Facebook reportedly went a step further than just banning Infowars content on their website. According to reports, they are promising to ban groups and individuals for merely sharing their content.
As The Atlantic reports:
Infowars is subject to the strictest ban. Facebook and Instagram will remove any content containing Infowars videos, radio segments, or articles (unless the post is explicitly condemning the content), and Facebook will also remove any groups set up to share Infowars content and events promoting any of the banned extremist figures, according to a company spokesperson. (Twitter, YouTube, and Apple have also banned Jones and Infowars.)
Jones, Yiannopoulos, Watson, Loomer, Nehlen, and Farrakhan are all personally banned, as are any accounts set up in their likeness. But users may still praise those figures on Instagram and share content related to them that doesnt violate other Instagram and Facebook terms of service. Weve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today, a Facebook spokesperson said via email.
If you think this wont happen, consider the fact that it already has. Brandon Straka, the former Democrat who founded the #WalkAway campaign was banned from Facebook ahead of a protest in Washington DC because he linked to an interview with Alex Jones.
FACEBOOK JUST BANNED ME AS I AM PLANNING THE #WalkAway March on Washington!!! I have been banned from posting leading up to the March. This is devastated for our ability to reach people!!! I was banned for mentioning my interview with Alex Jones. Can anybody help??? pic.twitter.com/DDozepNaAI
Brandon Straka (@usminority) September 12, 2018
While Facebook is claiming this move is to protect the platform from dangerous content, their claims ring hollow given their history of doing the exact opposite.
As TFTP reported last year, after Facebook wip
In November, an auction was held on Facebook in which a child bride was put up for sale in a public post. People openly bid on Facebook for a 16-year-old girl.
Facebook claims they removed the post, but this wasnt until the auction had ended and the girl had been sold.
As FOX 59 reports, according to childrens rights organization Plan International, the girl was bid on by five men, some of whom were reportedly high-ranking South Sudanese government officials.
George Otim, Plan Internationals country director in South Sudan, where the auction took place, said: That a girl could be sold for marriage on the worlds biggest social networking site in this day and age is beyond belief.
We agree.
As Facebook doles out bans for photos of ET, deletes pages with millions of followers for promoting peace, and censors alternative media, the post selling a human child to a life of slavery was allowed to remain up for 15 days. But thats not all.
If Facebook is worried about dangerous content then why are they openly defending and allowing actual calls for the death of billions of people. Last year, the page Red & Black Anarchist posted a meme literally calling for the death of hundreds of millions of people, and when it was reported, Facebook said it didnt violate their terms. Seriously.
So FB bans all of our pages because we are dangerous to elections of some shit meanwhile, some groups are literally calling for the death of hundreds of millions of people, and #FacebookPurge is totally fine with them. pic.twitter.com/s4puwAnkyO
Matt Agorist (@MattAgorist) October 16, 2018
In fact, the Red and Black Anarchist page is still up and they just so happen to be celebrating the recent purge of Alex Jones and the like.
Of course, we arent advocating for their removal eitheralthough calling for the killing of anyone is illegal and shouldve raised multiple red flags.
In what can be referred to as a horrifying irony these bans come just one day before May 3rd, which is World Press Freedom Day. On this day to celebrate the freedom of press, the West is banning free press, imprisoning Julian Assange whos never had to issue a retraction, and calling for the silencing and even imprisonment of organizations and individuals who advocate for vaccine safety. This is 2019 ladies and gentlemen. Remember, like we said last year before all this began first they came for Alex Jones.
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project, where this article first appeared. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.
#1: Hank Rearden To: Deckard (#0)
I've got a sneaking suspicion that it'll be taken down by other forces before that happens, though.
Use fake accounts if needed for website logins, keep the adblockers enabled and updated.
Hank Rearden posted on 2019-05-06 12:04:13 Reply Private Reply
#2: Pinguinite To: Deckard (#0)
So Facebook should not be able to survive a lawsuit like that. Only problem is that it's a multi-billion $ corp and they will pay 10's of millions or more to fight any court challenge.
Pinguinite posted on 2019-05-06 17:46:40 Reply Private Reply