After Facebook announced on Thursday that it shut down and removed hundreds of pages and accounts that it vaguely accused of spreading "spam" and engaging in "inauthentic behavior," some of the individuals and organizations caught up in the social media behemoth's dragnet disputed accusations that they were violating the platform's rules and raised alarm that Facebook is using its enormous power to silence independent political perspectives that run counter to the corporate media's dominant narratives.
While it is reasonable to assume that some of the more than 800 total pages and accounts shut down by Facebook were engaged in overtly fraudulent behavior—such as the use of fake accounts and bots to generate ad revenue—numerous independent media outlets that cover a wide array of issues say they were swept up in the massive purge despite never using such tactics.
"Those who demanded Facebook and other Silicon
Valley giants censor political content are finding that content that
they themselves support and like end up being repressed. That's what has
happened to every censorship advocate in history."
—Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
"Facebook has removed the pages of several police
accountability/watchdog/critic groups, including Cop Block, the Free
Thought Project, and Police the Police," Washington Post journalist Radley Balko noted
in a tweet following Facebook's announcement. "They've also apparently
severely restricted activity for the Photography Is Not a Crime page."—Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
Activist, comedian, and political commentator Lee Camp argued that Facebook's purge is clear evidence that the "purging of anti-establishment thought is upon us" and described the account shutdowns as "full-frontal suppression of dissent."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/10/12/facebook-accused-full-frontal-suppression-dissent-after-independent-media-swept-mass
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