On January 8th, 2021, I was effectively banned from Facebook without any reason provided other than the vague statement of “posting something that violates Facebook policies.” There was no other reason provided. Posting, commenting, reacting to posts, sharing, using messenger, pages, etc. are all disabled. There is no way to appeal this decision either. How is one to avoid repeating the same mistake (that implying it was an actual violation in the first place) if they are not told what it was?
Fast forward to January 11th, 2021, Ron Paul experiences nearly an identical treatment. The same day I was banned, so was the President of the United States. If anyone were to try and say Ron or I’d ban were related to Trump’s, they were not. Ron Paul was outspoken of the 45th President and I certainly didn’t give him a sweeping approval either. Perhaps it was Ron’s article on the “Great Reset.”
We are in very dangerous times when the “Public Square” of discourse is in jeopardy as much as it has been in the last few years. Today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Trump’s ban from Twitter “problematic.” There are cries from supporters of censorship that “Facebook/Twitter/YouTube are private companies and can do whatever they want.” Private companies do not receive tax payer funding, such as Facebook has.
These are very dangerous times and it is highly unlikely things will get better before getting much worse. If anything, “better” does not even seem possible after the progression these companies have taken direction towards.
Originally written on 1/11/2021