Did Facebook Censor “The Liberty Conservative”?!

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By Paul Meekin

On Friday, April 21st, The Liberty Conservative posted an article about the VP of the CATO Institute attacking Ron Paul. According to the outlet, the social media posting of the article was temporarily barred.

The outlet, the author, and those who read the piece, were unable to share it – and allegedly unable to share anything else for days afterward.

Facebook said it could have been a technical glitch or malware. The Liberty Conservative believes otherwise:

“Facebook apparently gives random error messages to baffle users and throw them off the trail. Most of the people afflicted were put out of commission for two days, unable to share links to content on the social media platform.”

“Facebook allows child pornography, ISIS propaganda, and a whole mess of vile trash on their platform while squashing the free speech of conservatives. The public should, at the very least, be made aware of Facebook’s transgressions.” They continued.

The problem is that we don’t know why, how or what flagged Facebook. It could be the story itself, or the outlet’s reputation. It could be some weird coding that put off Facebook’s algorithm. It could be this absolutely ludicrous article that says reparations are being paid to black folks via welfare.

I mean…really?

When you consider Facebook is testing new ‘fake news’ filters, perhaps the system made an honest glitch. After all, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the others are all essentially living organisms; algorithms are being refined and modified by the hour. It’s possible – and most likely, The Liberty Conservative was caught up in that – and wasn’t deliberately targeted by Facebook for a seemingly innocuous article about Libertarian infighting.

The Liberty Conservative notes Facebook is allowed to do whatever it wants as a private company, but also states egregious behavior like this must be (rightfully) called out.

So they did, and I am too. The Liberty Conservative censored me about 2 months ago, deleting an article I wrote about abortion without warning – twice. When I e-mailed them they said the article was gone forever. About a week later they posted that Reparations article I linked to above, and I think it’s safe to say I dodged a bullet.

Thankfully this noble publication was brave enough to let me voice my opinion.

My point – with a free press comes a great responsibility. To your readers, yes, but also to the world at large. The Liberty Conservative censored me because my pro-choice opinions did not gel with their outlook, and that is their right. I take umbrage with the fact they deleted the article without telling me, and think it’s silly to have a website with “liberty” in the title silencing dissenting opinions, but that is their prerogative.

The problem is that this sort of thing isn’t being handled fairly by social media at large. Dave Rubin, Milo Yiannopoulos, The Prager institute, and many other ‘right wing’ folks have butted up against Youtube strikes and twitter bans, while a college professor who said they wanted White Genocide for Christmas is still active.

There’s a distinct bias in the way social media handles minority opinions. And that bias is based on crowdsourcing and public opinion, and I think we can all agree the ‘left’ are far better at being outraged and public shaming than ‘the right’ is.

Thus, to win, you need to play their game. If I own a social media platform and see it becoming inundated with political fights, quasi-racist pontifications, and shouty headlines with a tenuous connection to reality – you bet your ass I’m going to do something to stymy that tide.

Here’s the problem – Libertarians champion personal responsibility – it is the foundation a libertarian society would be built upon. But as we’ve seen time and time again, in history, and in our media – including the libertarians at The Liberty Conservative, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Breitbart, Drudge, and countless more have demonstrated they are very very bad at it.

So of course the powers that be Facebook and Google and Twitter will take matters into their own hands. They are people in power who think they know better and will take the ignored responsibility of a free press into their own hands to keep our eyeballs safe from uncouth thought and opinion and conjecture.

It’s disgusting, but you can’t blame them. While the mainstream media’s reputation crumbles, alternative media often seems content to rabble rouse, instead of building a sold reputation of their own because there’s very little money and engagement in solid reporting, and lots more in shares and shock tactics.

One things for sure – you *don’t* build a solid reputation telling black people they got paid back for slavery via welfare. That’s how you get your shit banned.

Much like the federal government cutting PBS, I am of the mind starting a big fake news censorship campaign with The Liberty Conservative is a pretty dumb idea, and like the government cutting PBS, I am doubting it’s happening.

Thus, I implore The Liberty Conservative to perhaps consider what they’re publishing and why, and consider that they perhaps aren’t important enough to catch Facebook’s eyre.

Yet.

Because if we, meaning everyone in media, keep this up, it’s possible the free press will become a worthless one.

EDITOR’s NOTE: The views expressed are those of the author, they are not representative of The Libertarian Republic or its sponsors.

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