Facebook has been cracking down on conspiracy theorists while allowing groups that organize and share content in apparent conflict with Facebook’s policies. That means QAnon is gone but Antifa is still allowed.
Facebook previously established policies in August “that barred QAnon groups that called for violence,” The New York Times summarized, but this wasn’t enough for liberal news outlets pressuring Facebook. The Times illustrated that since then, “Facebook acknowledged that its previous policies had not gone far enough” in an October 6 update.
Facebook’s update declared that “Starting today, we will remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.” The blog further explained that this harder stance has been in response to actions “tied to different forms of real world harm” that are not directly violent, including:
“recent claims that the west coast wildfires were started by certain groups, which diverted attention of local officials from fighting the fires and protecting the public. Additionally, QAnon messaging changes very quickly and we see networks of supporters build an audience with one message and then quickly pivot to another.”
Facebook explained that its “Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports.”
Twitter similarly mass purged Qanon accounts in late July.
The New York Times has previously attempted to describe the QAnon ideology as follows: “Mr. Trump ran for office to save Americans from a so-called deep state filled with child-abusing, devil-worshiping bureaucrats.”
While liberals panic about people sharing conspiracy theories, extreme left-wing groups are using Facebook to organize civil unrest.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had explained his concerns about upcoming civil unrest in an early September interview with Axios: "I think we need to be doing everything that we can to reduce the chances of violence or civil unrest in the wake of this election." He then went on to claim: "We're trying to make sure that we do our part to make sure that none of this is organized on Facebook.”
But the record shows that he has not taken sufficient action. Even after being contacted about what major media describe as violent groups such as Rose City Antifa and foreign political interference such as far-left Canadian organization Adbusters, Facebook has proven that it has not followed through on its commitment to reduce political unrest amidst the 2020 election.
Also, in mid-September Facebook allowed activists to organize on the platform to harass sitting U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) at his purported home address about how he intends to vote concerning a replacement for deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook's leadership by calling Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308- 7300 or 1-650-543-4800 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 to be included in our database, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
