Meta’s new hate speech guidelines explicitly allow users to call LGBTQ people “mentally ill.” Continue reading “Meta’s Relaxed Guidelines Allow Anti-LGBTQ Hate Speech”
Meta’s Relaxed Guidelines Allow Anti-LGBTQ Hate Speech
Meta Announces End Of Fact-Checking Program Ahead Of Trump Taking Office
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has announced it is ending its fact-checking program meant to stop the spread of misinformation on those platforms and will instead rely on a protocol similar to X’s Community Notes. Continue reading “Meta Announces End Of Fact-Checking Program Ahead Of Trump Taking Office”
Facebook To Reinstate Donald Trump Accounts
(images via Facebook, Depositphotos)
Facebook Removing Offers To Mail Abortion Pills
(image via Depositphotos)
More Misinformation Lands QAnon Rep In Facebook Jail
Just a day after being permanently banned from Twitter for repeated violations of the platform’s rules on spreading misinformation about COVID, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has landed in Facebook jail for continuing her lie campaign. Continue reading “More Misinformation Lands QAnon Rep In Facebook Jail”
Facebook, Instagram Simultaneously Experience Widespread Outages
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp all went down Monday morning sending social media users to Twitter to grouse about the outage. Continue reading “Facebook, Instagram Simultaneously Experience Widespread Outages”
Trump Calls On Countries To Ban Twitter And Facebook
Donald Trump issued a statement today praising the nation of Nigeria (which he once called a ‘shit hole’) for banning Twitter after the social media company banned the country’s president. In the same breath he called on more countries to ban both Twitter and Facebook because he’s still butt hurt over being banned from the platforms. His current bans are a result of his being held accountable for the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Apparently still inhabiting Earth 2, Trump ponders if he should have banned the two social media platforms while in the White House – except, of course, he didn’t have that power.
Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech—all voices should be heard.
In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil?
Perhaps I should have done it while I was President. But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?
Study: Social Media Platforms ‘Categorically Unsafe’ For LGBTQs
(photo: Eddy Billard/Unsplash)
GLAAD had planned to give each of the sites a grade as part of its inaugural social media index, but opted not to give individual grades this year after determining all the leading sites would receive a failing grade.
“They are categorically unsafe, across the board,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. The findings follow a several month effort by GLAAD and a team of outside experts who looked at each of the sites, their policies and track record of enforcing those policies.
Ellis said that all of the sites hold themselves out as LGBTQ-friendly and nonetheless allow for LGBTQ people to be harassed on a daily basis as well as allowing harmful misinformation to spread unchecked.
Each of the social media platforms defended their efforts to protect LGBTQ people. Facebook/Instagram CMO Alex Schultz declared their deep belief in “the representation of and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community that GLAAD champions.” “Finding the right balance between giving voice and taking action on harmful content is hard,” added Schultz. “This is why we partner with experts, non-profits and other stakeholders – like GLAAD – to try to get it right.” YouTube issued a statement noting its ‘significant progress’ in removing “hateful and harassing content against the LGBTQ+ community that violates our policies, prominently surface content in search results and recommendations from authoritative sources and limit the spread of extreme content by our recommendations.” Twitter says it welcomes GLAAD’s initiative and the chance to “better understand the experiences and needs of the LGBTQ+ communities on our service.” And TikTok promised it is “committed to supporting and uplifting LGBTQ+ voices on and off the platform and we care deeply about fostering a welcoming and supportive experience for everyone.”
Facebook Oversight Board Says Trump Ban Will Remain (For Now)
Donald Trump (image: public domain)
Facebook’s Oversight Board, which acts as a quasi-court over the company’s content decisions, said the social network was right to bar Mr. Trump after the insurrection in Washington in January, saying he “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.” The panel said the ongoing risk of violence “justified” the move.
But the board also said that an indefinite suspension was “not appropriate,” and that the company should apply a “defined penalty.” The board gave Facebook six months to make its final decision on Mr. Trump’s account status.
Sifting through Twitter, it seems most folks were very surprised Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld the decision. Trump released a statement calling the decision a “total disgrace.” “What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country,” read Trump’s statement. “Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before.”
Trump statement following the news from Facebook's Oversight Board upholding its ban on him pic.twitter.com/o6lfGdKYnl
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) May 5, 2021
The Left’s cancel culture is out of control. Facebook’s ban of Trump is just more proof.
Big Tech has a choice: Have the same standards for ALL—or—we look at antitrust laws to limit their monopolistic power.
If they can do this to a president, imagine what they can do to you.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) May 5, 2021
Facebook is more interested in acting like a Democrat Super PAC than a platform for free speech and open debate.
If they can ban President Trump, all conservative voices could be next.
A House Republican majority will rein in big tech power over our speech.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) May 5, 2021
Who is facebook loyal to:President Trump (75 million American votes is banned)-4 Chinese Communist dictatorship sites have 342.3 million viewers. Communism good-Trump bad. Ask yourself where Facebook’s loyalty lies-to a free society or a totalitarian dictatorship.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) May 5, 2021
It's a private company. They have a Terms of Service. They're enforcing it. You live by it. Trump can too.
"A free society" means a private enterprise can run its business the way it wants. If you as a free citizen don't like that, use our free market and go somewhere else.
— Joe Carlin (@joe_nca) May 5, 2021
Donald Trump is no voiceless victim. He earned his suspension from Facebook by spreading dangerous, violence-inciting lies. Our nation is still living with the consequences of the deadly insurrection Trump incited, & there is a clear & present danger that he will do it again. https://t.co/8LWbSDoKbJ
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) May 5, 2021
Facebook Blocks Trump Account For ‘At Least’ Two Weeks
Donald Trump (image: public domain)
We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks. pic.twitter.com/JkyGOTYB1Z
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021