Meta Tries to Silence a Critic: Us; Suspends RFOB Instagram Account After Critical Post on Meta’s Threats to Freedom of Press in Canada
3 June 2023 — Meta has suspended the Real Facebook Oversight Board’s Instagram Account for a violation of “community guidelines” after we posted a spotlight thread on the company’s actions in Canada restricting access to news. The Real Facebook Oversight Board said in a statement -
“Meta has always worked to silence its critics, including an effort to dissuade funders from supporting the Real Facebook Oversight Board and to keep us offline ahead of our 2020 launch. Today, after a post on Instagram critical of Meta’s threat to ban access to news websites in Canada, our account was suspended. The posts, seen below, called out Meta’s dangerous and repeated “strategy of intimidation, aimed at disrupting legislative processes around the world.”
Clearly we struck a nerve, AI or human: our Instagram account has been suspended for vague violations of “community guidelines.” The account, which has been active since 2020, regularly criticized bad Facebook/Meta policies.
To be clear: Meta is an unrestrained and unregulated threat to global democracy. Their actions in Canada — like Australia before, and potentially US states to follow, is intimidation and an affront to users, who are now barred from seeing important news without recourse. We’re angry about our Instagram account and will follow policy and potentially appeal directly to Facebook’s Oversight Board, in spite of its embarrassing record holding Meta accountable. But this is much bigger — it’s about Meta’s tactics of silencing critics and using intimidation and threats to end run democratic processes.
We demand an answer on our “community guideline” violation. And we urge Canadian leaders to hold firm and not cave to Meta’s undemocratic attack.”
More on Meta’s actions in Canada can be found at our Twitter feed.
Real Facebook Oversight Board members are available for interviews. Statements do not reflect the individual positions of all Real Facebook Oversight Board Members. Contact us at media@the-citizens.com.
