Now Facebook censors the post reporting them censoring a post

Nothing remotely unfactual, but again ‘removed’…

Facebook continues its campaign of censoring factual Skwawkbox posts, apparently to protect right-wing and establishment interests – and has now removed a link to a post reporting its removal of the previous post, even though the article is 100% factual.

After removing, in the space of just over a week, posts analysing Labour’s poor local election results, exposing David Lammy’s refusal to say that Iran has a right to defend itself from Israel and, most recently, a list of examples of the BBC’s disinformation and cover-ups, the platform removed an article dissecting Keir Starmer’s and Wes Streeting’s ‘ten-year plan’ for the NHS, which is cover for accelerated privatisation, treatment rationing and the coercion of patients and trusts to go along with it. And when Skwawkbox reported that piece of censorship, Facebook censored that piece of reporting too:

Facebook is also censoring the attempts of other users of its platform to share these factual articles.

The censorship is unsurprising – Facebook, like Twitter, has long been on a trajectory of favouring right-wing and even extremist accounts and articles over left-wing. It was exposed in 2020 using its algorithms to target left-wing sources while relaxing fact-checking standards on right-wing pages. While much of its censorship is AI-driven, it also uses human ‘fact-checkers’ with ties to hard-right groups and news outlets.

But the key question is – why is Facebook intervening to protect right-wing UK politicians, promote state disinformation and prioritise these interests over the its users’ right to know, at a time when the US, UK and other governments are openly seeking to control the information and narratives that their populations get to see in a time of live-streamed genocide and warmongering when western governments are either lying, silent or both?

Who can possibly fathom it..?

Social media that protect genuine free speech and dissent are urgently needed, but those who wish to be sure of finding the information that Skwawkbox uncovers should subscribe to this site’s free mailing list and to the Skwawkbox Telegram channel. Please also make sure, if you can afford it, to support this site so it can keep reporting the news that inconveniences the powerful – see below for options to do so.

SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount as it has to be entered by us). Alternatively, if you prefer to make a one-off or recurring donation by simple card payment, please use the form below:

Thanks for your solidarity so Skwawkbox can keep doing its job of inconveniencing the right and helping to build the left!

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.