Facebook bans conservative blogger for link she did not post

By: Joe Newby / The Examiner
 

Florida blogger Diane Sori (r) with former Rep. Allen West (R-FL).

 

 

It's one thing to face consequences for one's own actions. But Diane Sori, a Florida-based conservative blogger with the Patriot Factor, told Examiner Wednesday that she was banned from Facebook for 30 days over a link she did not post. 

 

In fact, Sori said, she did not even have access to the Internet at the time the link was posted to "Barracuda Brigade for Our American Girl! 2012," a Facebook fan page for the Barracuda Brigade blog, and she did not learn of the ban until much later in the day when she tried to check Facebook while at her dentist's office.

Early Tuesday morning, all of the administrators for the page received a notice that Facebook had removed an anti-Islamic post the social media site found objectionable.

“Just think, if THE CRUSADES had not ever stopped, we wouldn't be having to put up with stinkin' Muslims in the world and Obama would have never been born," the post said, with a link to an article at Bare Naked Islam that contains a graphic image of a young boy who was decapitated. The image was not posted on the Facebook page. (Note: We did not provide a link due to the graphic nature of the image.)

Some of the administrators were blocked for anywhere from 3-30 days, said page owner Alicia Fix Luke, who was also banned for a short period.

Other administrators escaped punishment, while one moderator was banned for seven days. Moderators of Facebook pages cannot post links, according to Facebook's definition of the various administrator roles.

At first, none of the administrators owned up to the post, but one of them eventually admitted to posting the link, telling Luke in a message that he would "make no apologies" for it.

In his message to Luke, John L. Sulak said that "no threats were made" and the post did not contain pornography.

"So, Facebook, in all their politically correct wisdom 'decided' they did not like this. Yet Muslims can post death threats to non-believers all over Facebook and the net and nothing happens," he wrote.

Sulak said Facebook blocked him for 24 hours, but that is no consolation to Sori and others who were punished by the social media giant for a post they had no part of. Worse yet, while others are no longer blocked, Sori said late Wednesday afternoon that she is still banned for 28 days.

"Talk about targeting and selective enforcement," she said.

In a message to Facebook, Luke said the site "runs a 'Walking Dead' game where the 'beheading' of zombies is not only common place, it’s required for advancement in the game. The images in the game, endorsed and run by Facebook; are dramatically more graphic than the picture in our posting," which she described as a factual story of an actual event.

Sori says that Facebook's action amounts to censorship based on her conservative point of view.

For months, conservatives have complained bitterly about the treatment they have received from Facebook, and many believe they are the victim of viewpoint discrimination.

Recently, the fan page for another conservative blog was targeted by Facebook for closure over something posted by one of the site administrators, but Facebook relented and apologized after Fox News' Todd Starnes reported the incident.

As a result, sites like WePluribUS and Tea Party Community have sprung up, giving conservatives a "free speech" alternative to Facebook.

Related:

• Facebook targets conservative page for closure, backtracks and apologizes
• White House yanks petition asking for action on Facebook censorship
• Is Facebook actively censoring conservative bloggers?
• Do Facebook policies banning users squelch free speech?
• Facebook page calling for death of Sarah Palin gets more violent