| Hundreds of pages and accounts have been purged over accusations that they were "inauthentic." The page operators disagree.
"I contributed to Facebook's success and growth!" Jason Bassler said with some frustration this morning, a day after the social media giant unpublished the page for a media site he founded, The Free Thought Project. "I decided to create content day after day. Now they piss on us." Facebook announced Thursday that it was deleting 559 pages and 251 accounts that it claims were breaking Facebook's rules against spam and "inauthentic" behavior. The Free Thought Project was one of the demolished pages, along with another of Bassler's efforts, Police the Police. Both pages that produced content—stories, memes, and videos—that focused on government behavior and were shared widely among fans, particularly libertarians. Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, and Oscar Rodriguez, a Facebook product manager, have explained the purge by writing that they don't think these sites were really trying to engage in political debate but were in fact spam factories trying to make money:
Bassler says that's not what was happening. Bassler has editing privileges on a bunch of pages that were affected by the ban … Bassler explains though that this was the result of networking between pages of similar interest, not a handful of people trying to artificially inflate their own popularity. He has made five pages himself, and he was assisting with these others. "When we first started these pages in 2012, we started networking with different page owners realized we could do more to benefit each other by helping each other," he says. "What we did and what we've done for the past six years is help each other out by giving each other information." Bassler isn't the only one confused. Over at the Washington Post, James Reader, who runs a progressive site and page called Reverb Reader, complains about Facebook "changing the rules as they went." Many of them, like Bassler, used networking to build a community to reach a larger audience—a normal sort of organizing that Facebook now deems "inauthentic." The Free Thought Project had 3 million followers and Police the Police nearly 2 million. Some of the stories highlighted and shared on their website will be familiar to Reason readers, like the recent case of the Kansas man handcuffed on his own property by police who had confused him with a burglar. Bassler says he also got stories from people reaching out to them, upset when the general media reported only the police's side of the story. Bassler describes himself as a libertarian anarchist, but he says he's tried hard not to push an ideological agenda onto his pages, focusing instead on government accountability. But The Free Thought Project also ran afoul of fact-checkers, particularly Snopes, which has accused them of misrepresenting stories on several occasions and which frequently describes them as a conspiracy site. The Free Thought Project provided coverage of veterans group in Arizona that claimed to have found a "bunker" being used for child trafficking. It was actually an abandoned homeless camp, and there's no evidence that there was any sort of human trafficking happening there. After Snopes and the Associated Press reported that the claims were fake, The Free Thought Project defended itself by saying it never actually said the child trafficking claims were true in the first place. And it has struck back at Snopes for "debunking" claims from The Free Thought Project that it didn't actually make. Bassler says he's had four stories pulled from Facebook after fact-checkers deemed them inaccurate. He has had two of those decisions reversed. He claims that Snopes has a grudge against them after The Free Thought Project delved into the site's finances. Snopes, meanwhile, has put up a page debunking claims from the Free Thought Project that Snopes is trying to "shut down conversation" about child sex trafficking. It's all very messy, but even though Facebook is turning to Snopes to assist with fact- checking what gets shared on the platform, Facebook's latest round of page deletions makes no mention of fact-checking problems as a justification. Reason has reached out to both Facebook and Snopes to see if this fact- checking fight played any role the decision to shut down The Free Thought Project's page or any others affected by the purge. We have not yet gotten a response. In the meantime, Bassler says he's going to "fight tooth and nail" to try to get his Facebook pages restored. The Free Thought Project has officially responded to having its Facebook page deleted here. |
Libertarian and Police Accountability Pages Deleted in Facebook Purge
| Source: | Reason |
| Published: | Oct 12, 2018 |
| Author: | SCOTT SHACKFORD |
| Post Date: | 2019-10-01 21:30:03 by Gatlin |
| Views: | 4474 |
#1: Deckard To: Gatlin (#0)
HAHAHAHA!!!
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 21:32:10 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: Gatlin (#0)
Bet you get a chubby from this as well:
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 21:37:08 Reply Private Reply
#3: buckeroo To: Gatlin (#0)
FUCK YOU!
buckeroo posted on 2019-10-01 21:46:06 Reply Private Reply
#4: Gatlin To: Deckard (#1)
Laugh as loud and as long as you want to.And when you finish with your hysteria, the fact will still remain that it got The Free Thought Project exposed and kicked off of Facebook.
My turn now.
HaHaHaHAHaHaHaHaHaHa…
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 22:21:18 Reply Private Reply
#5: Gatlin To: Deckard (#2)
Nah, I pay not attention to such things.What attracted you to the picture in the first place?
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 22:23:16 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: Gatlin (#4)
And you continue to cheer the destruction of the first amendment in the good ole U.S.A.
For sites you disapprove of. Sickening - absolutely appalling!
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:29:25 Reply Private Reply
#7: Deckard To: buckeroo (#3)
His socialist tendencies become more and more apparent by the day.
If one were so inclined, one might characterize his views as Nazi-like.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:31:10 Reply Private Reply
#8: Deckard To: Gatlin (#5)
Gee, I don't know.
Maybe it is your Nazi-like views coming more into focus lately.
Comparing your views on freedom of speech to book burning seems apropos.
And your apparent love affair with Zuckerberg and Facebook is not surprising.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:35:01 Reply Private Reply
#9: Deckard To: Gatlin (#4)
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:36:42 Reply Private Reply
#10: Gatlin To: Deckard (#9)
While I cannot speak for others, I can emphatically state thatI don’t “deem” Snopes to be “the final arbiter of truth.”I can – and I do – however, deem the fact that Snopes got The Free Thought Project kicked off of Facebook a noble and gratifying achievement.
HeHeHeHeHeHe …
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 22:44:06 Reply Private Reply
#11: Gatlin To: Deckard (#8)
Not surprising.
And here are many things yoy will never know.
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 22:49:26 Reply Private Reply
#12: Deckard To: Gatlin (#10)
You still don't get it. You cheer the banning sites that you disagree with from Facebook?
Tell us all how Gatlin is the champion for freedom of speech. I need a good laugh.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:50:22 Reply Private Reply
#13: Gatlin To: Deckard (#6)
*** snicker ***Yea …
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 22:53:18 Reply Private Reply
#14: Deckard To: Gatlin (#11)
Lookie here - another stunningly yukon-esque tactic - taking part of my post and disingenuously changing what I really said.
What a predictable simpleton you are!
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:53:57 Reply Private Reply
#15: Deckard To: Gatlin (#13)
Facebook’s tendency toward political censorship accelerated swiftly this past weekend, when many pro-Second Amendment pages were banned without explanation.
“We found out we weren’t alone. Many other pro-gun pages — or pro-law enforcement pages or military pages — were unpublished over the weekend,” Tactical Sh*t owner TJ Kirgin tells National Review. In some cases, he says, even airsoft pages were included in the cull.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 22:56:53 Reply Private Reply
#16: Gatlin To: Deckard (#12)
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:00:41 Reply Private Reply
#17: Deckard To: Gatlin (#16)
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 23:02:11 Reply Private Reply
#18: Gatlin To: Deckard (#14)
You need to add:“… causing great annoyance, resultant impatience, and sometimes mild anger to you.”
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:05:04 Reply Private Reply
#19: Deckard To: Gatlin (#18)
Yeah sport, that's something to be proud of.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 23:06:50 Reply Private Reply
#20: Gatlin To: Deckard (#17)
Don’t let it bother you too much. For everyone at one time or another has thoughts that are strangely upsetting, and that do not make a lot of sense. This is not abnormal for you. In fact several well-conducted studies have discovered that close to 100% of the general population has intrusive and disturbing thoughts, images or ideas.
If you start to lose sleep over it – let me know.
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:12:21 Reply Private Reply
#21: Gatlin To: Deckard (#15)
I will be the one who decides what I will or will not cheer.
And DON’T you EVER forget that …
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:15:01 Reply Private Reply
#22: Gatlin To: Deckard (#19)
Nan, I’d say it something I find quite amusing to do.
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:16:44 Reply Private Reply
#23: Gatlin To: Deckard, GrandIsland, misterwhite, nolu chan, A K A Stone. (#0)
A good for nothing Paultard anarchist owns and runs The Free Thought Project.
That figures …
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:22:53 Reply Private Reply
#24: Gatlin To: Deckard (#7)
Godwin's rule of Hitler analogies is an Internet adage asserting that if an online discussion goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Adolf Hitler or his deeds, the point at which effectively the discussion or thread often ends.Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:34:26 Reply Private Reply
#25: Deckard To: Gatlin (#24)
Deckard posted on 2019-10-01 23:38:40 Reply Private Reply
#26: Gatlin To: Deckard (#25)
It doesn’t …Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-01 23:56:53 Reply Private Reply
#27: Deckard To: Gatlin (#26)
All evidence to the contrary.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-02 00:17:26 Reply Private Reply
#28: Gatlin To: Deckard (#27)
Just stop with the bullshit.Evidence is an “available body of facts indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.
You have no “BODY OF FACTS” …
Gatlin posted on 2019-10-02 00:23:42 Reply Private Reply
#29: Tooconservative To: Gatlin, Deckard (#0)
But was FTP actually doing this or was it certain people who were contributing articles to FTP and then hammering them on Fakebook to drive their counts up with a bunch of sockpuppet accounts? I don't doubt that some FTP contributors are actually trying to report stories and not using fake accounts to drive read counts and clicks up or to monetize content farm ads.
It's hard to get too excited. I'm in favor of Fakebook and FTP just destroying each other. The world would be a better place without both of them. They kind of deserve each other.
As 2020 elections draw nearer, Fakebook will get a lot more strict. And the ban hammer will fall much harder on the Right than the Left. This FTP ban is an unusual one, considering that most people would consider FTP to more of a Left site than a Right site.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-10-02 00:38:30 Reply Private Reply
#30: Deckard To: Tooconservative (#29)
I think the site could honestly be categorized as libertarian. Which is why Gatlin's hatred is so vehemently displayed on threads like this.
FTP does a lot of pro 2A stories, champions freedom of speech, is critical of leftist political correctness, mocks climate change alarmists, as well as covering corrupt cop stories.
They also have published articles that applaud the cops when they do something worth applauding.
Right-leaning libertarian might be a good description.
And the ban hammer will fall much harder on the Right than the Left.
That's the part Gatlin will never understand - that freedom of speech applies to ALL speech, not just the speech you happen to agree with.
The main reason he's trying to turn this place into a Gatlin-approved echo chamber where he and his boot-licking cohorts can run the show.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-02 01:16:55 Reply Private Reply
#31: Tooconservative To: Deckard (#30)
You must know that it is almost impossible for a gay Canary to change its stripes.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-10-02 13:36:11 Reply Private Reply
#32: Deckard To: Tooconservative (#31)
He'll deny the assertion, whine and rat you out to A K A, and then demand an apology for saying that.
Deckard posted on 2019-10-02 15:27:25 Reply Private Reply
#33: Tooconservative To: Deckard (#32)
It seemed fitting. The current Canary gang bears quite a strong resemblance to the old Canary gang, the ones that are supposedly no longer on this forum. Methods of argument, turns of phrase, peckish behavior, etc.
There's something weird and pathetic about someone online obsessing over trying to force anonymous people on some very small and very obscure forum to apologize to them.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-10-02 18:16:55 Reply Private Reply