In 2020, jokes aren’t even immune from Facebook censorship.
Anti-PC comedian JP Sears told his social media followers that Facebook is threatening to deplatform him. “Hey family, looks like my days here on Facebook are numbered,” Sears posted on Dec. 8. “Please join me on Parler (username @awakenwithjp) where I’ll continue to share uncensored.”
Sears is known for his counter-culture comedy, which takes jabs at subjects like political correctness, the liberal media and Big Tech. In a video posted on Facebook titled “How the Media Wants You To Think” Sears and others lit into the left’s pandemic narrative. They provided some hilarious pseudo-virtue signaling via a litany of anecdotes pretending to prove their courage in the face of COVID-19.
“Instead of working I'm brave enough to protect my family by letting them starve,” said one of the video’s actors in a very serious and melodramatic tone. “I'm brave enough to want to be tracked, so I can be safe,” said another.
In a video on YouTube titled “What It’s Like Getting Censored on YouTube” Sears imitated a conversation with a YouTube spokesperson. “You think you can control speech?” Sears asked the spokesperson. “No, no, no, not at all. WE DO control speech,” the spokesperson responded. “[W]e have community guidelines, and it's important that the community only speaks what’s in alignment with the community guidelines. Otherwise, we’ll censor the community, for the community’s own good. It’s like communism without the cold weather.”
Sears alerted his audience to be prepared for Facebook to drop the hammer on his account. He posted purported screenshots of Facebook’s notice to him stating that his “Page is at risk of being unpublished because of continued Community Standards violations.” In an episode of his "Awaken With JP" podcast, according to RedState, Sears said his channel has received this recent threat due to his unwillingness to stay within the boundaries of the mainstream narrative about COVID-19.
“I will not back down from Tyrrany[sic],” Sears said in his Facebook post. “I will without question risk losing what I have in the name of freedom.”
In a conversation with the CEO of Parler, the internet’s newest platform known for free-speech, Sears pointed out that he has already been “fully demonetized on Facebook,” and had several videos demonetized, or all out banned, on both YouTube and Instagram.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook via phone at (650) 308-7300 or (650) 543-4800, or by mail to 1601 Willow Road Menlo Park, CA 94025, and demand that Facebook not permit anti-conservative censorship on its platform. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
