After initially telling comedian Owen Benjamin that a Facebook group named “Kill Trump, Hang Him, Hunt Him” did not violate their community standards, the social media giant took a second look and found that it did violate their standards and subsequently removed it.
“This group was removed over the weekend for violating our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told the Conservative Firing Line in an email. “We are investigating why it was not removed sooner.”
Reports we saw indicated Benjamin was handed a 30-day ban from the site, but the comedian said he was banned from Twitter — not Facebook — for a post critical of Parkland anti-gun activist David Hogg.
Initial reports of the oversight angered many on social media:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/988833985773101057
https://twitter.com/KarleneGreenham/status/988834790412439552
Funny if a conservative did that, they would ban that person
— ariznative (@AZAPACHE2009) April 24, 2018
The message Benjamin received also made it to social media:
“Kill Trump, Hang Him, Hunt Him” Facebook Page Doesn’t Violate Facebook Community Standards – https://t.co/tjTJCH9ijm pic.twitter.com/HZI6TD438N
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) April 23, 2018
Many were also angered by the apparent hypocrisy of the initial finding. As we and many others have reported, the company’s recent algorithms have significantly hurt conservative outlets like this one while boosting liberal sites like CNN.
During a two-day grilling in Washington, D.C., CEO Mark Zuckerberg was repeatedly asked about Diamond and Silk, the popular pro-Trump duo whose reach was severely degraded after the site declared their content “unsafe” for their community.
At least in this case, Facebook admits it missed the mark and says it will work to find out why. Regular readers know that we’ve been highly critical of the company, but in this case, we’re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
Related:
- Video of the Day: Watch Ted Cruz corner Mark Zuckerberg on censorship of conservatives, Diamond and Silk
- Allen West: Facebook, Google, Twitter at war with conservatives; Time to fight back
- Facebook suspends Jamie Glazov after reporting physical threat of violence
- Video of the Day: Facebook suspends black conservative comedian’s account
- Too late: Facebook reconsiders ‘unsafe for community’ label against Diamond and Silk
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