Facebook Blackout, the online protest against what organizers call the “arbitrary and capricious policies targeting conservatives with censoring and suspensions” has surpassed 19,000 attendees. The event asks users to temporarily suspend their accounts for 24 hours on Aug. 25, and asks business pages to suspend advertising that day.
Despite being perhaps the single largest online protest against the social media giant, it has been virtually ignored by the so-called “mainstream media” as well as more conservative outlets.
Facebook, with more than a billion users worldwide, has revolutionized the way we communicate on the Internet. It has also become a source of headaches for a number of people — mostly conservatives — who have found themselves targeted and often unjustly punished.
People like Diane Sori, a Florida blogger who was banned for 30 days for something she never posted, or the Texas man who was punished for simply writing, “seizing the day with baby Obama.”
Then there’s Joseph L. Parker, a Christian writer for Examiner.com who was slapped for simply thanking someone on Facebook. Countless others have been punished by Facebook for practically little to no reason at all.
Conservative pages like Patriot Nation have also been torn down for no apparent reason, and pro-veteran pages like the very popular “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children” and “Grunts11Bravo” have been unpublished over questionable claims.
Meanwhile, Facebook stands by pages like “Kill Zimmerman” and the racist “Lawn Jockey Alert” that attacks conservative minorities with racist slurs. Despite being reported, these pages still exist. Last August, Facebook also stood by a page that openly advocated murdering Mitt Romney.
We’ve documented a number of these incidents, but there are many, many more stories like them out there.
So, we are asking everyone to (once again) do the job the “Democrat-media complex” refuses to do and blog about Facebook Blackout on August 20th, five days before the event. And be sure to use the hashtag #FacebookBlackout on Twitter.
This isn’t a conservative/liberal issue — it’s an issue of fundamental fairness that affects everyone on the site.
Granted, no one is forced to sign on to Facebook, and Facebook has the right to enforce its own rules.
But no one signs up to be attacked, maligned or smeared, and the rules need to be enforced fairly. As it is, criminal suspects have more rights than users on Facebook.
And that’s just wrong.
The event can be seen here.
Related:
- Facebook goes ban-happy, punishes user for saying ‘thank you’
- Facebook suspends ‘Blackout’ event admin for post saying woman seeking attention
- Report: Facebook says invites to ‘Blackout’ protest event ‘spammy’
- Liberals freaking out over conservative ‘Facebook Blackout’ protest
- Facebook protest calls for ‘blackout’ of site over treatment of conservatives
- Conservative tells liberals to stop living off the government, Facebook bans him
- Liberals Are people Too…Mean, Selfish People
- Facebook apologizes to Kirk Cameron for blocking new movie
- What the Daily Beast doesn’t tell you about Freedom from Facebook Day
- Facebook says ‘Zimmerman must Die’ does not violate community standards
- Facebook removes ‘Kill Zimmerman’ page after saying it does not violate rules
- Questions raised after Facebook yanks popular ‘Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children’
- Facebook pages call for death of George Zimmerman, rioting for Trayvon Martin
- Facebook bans Fox News’ Todd Starnes over post supporting NRA, Paula Deen, Jesus
- Facebook: Page advocating the beheading of infidels does not violate rules
- Facebook: Beheading video ‘doesn’t violate’ standards for graphic violence
- Facebook justifies decision to not pull grisly beheading video
- Facebook yanks gun sellers’ pages over firearm sweepstakes
- Conservative bloggers say Facebook selectively enforcing non-existent rules
- Facebook bans conservative blogger for link she did not post
- Facebook targets conservative page for closure, backtracks and apologizes
- Do Facebook policies banning users squelch free speech?
- Facebook page calling for death of Sarah Palin gets more violent
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