After it banned Heroes Of Liberty, a publisher of children’s books for kids, Facebook was the subject of a lot controversy. While it reversed the ban in recent weeks, some prominent critics remain skeptical.
Facebook hasn’t been transparent about its approach to free speech, including that of mere children’s books about American icons. Brit Hume (Fox News Senior Political Analyst) scorched Facebook via TwitterJanuary 3, for blocking the advertisement account ofHeroes of Liberty. He noted that the books were about people such as Ronald Reagan and Amy Coney Barrett. He deemed Facebook’s “low-quality or disruptive” assessment of the books to be “bullsh*t.” His wildly popular tweet got a quick responseFrom Meta/Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone: “This should not have happened. It was an error and the ad account’s been restored.”
Hume held Stone’s feet to the fire on such promises, however, when Hume wrote: “The publisher, btw, says she’s heard nothing about the reinstatement. Might be a good idea to tell them.”
Hume wasn’t alone though. Pluribus Editor Jeryl BierYou joined the discussion and asked for additional answers. asking: “Can you flesh out ‘error’ a bit more? Which kind of error is it? It had already been reviewed and was a ‘final’ decision.”
In short, Meta’s Facebook platform had previously addressed an appeal to the ban of Heroes of Liberty by confirming it was a “final decision,” according to reporting from Fox Business. Its leadership is in doubt because the platform reversed its previous stance following public outcry.
Conservative Partnership Institute Senior Director of Policy Rachel Bovard offered a theory that Facebook reversed the ban only because major Twitter accounts forced the issue: “So basically, Facebook censored a small business and was only called to account for it because the business owners had powerful Twitter accounts and so did their friends.”
She then quipped, “Tell me more about how Twitter doesn’t impact real life” and followed with another tweet asking how other businesses with less exposure would have fared. “[T]ell me what happens to the other small businesses whose owners don’t have the social media reach of their friends, and are just cut off from one of the worlds biggest digital ad agencies because Facebook made an oops,” she warned.
Fox News shared the shocking quote of Bethany S. Mandel (Haters of Liberty editor) and covered it. Mandel’s allegation seemed to add to the theory that the policy reversal was more about good press for Facebook and its parent company Meta rather than fair engagement with Heroes of Liberty. “They proactively reached out to several members of Congress and told *them* it was a mistake and we’re back online. According to Fox Business, Mandel stated that those offices had told him. “They didn’t reach out to us.”
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