Facebook Is Removing Posts That Organize Stay At Home Protests

Well, Facebook has apparently decided you do not have a right to protest against excessive stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. Facbook is removing events and posts to organize protests of Stay At Home orders as harmful misinformation.

From Breitbart:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that posts and pages attempting to organize protests against stay-at-home orders will be banned as “misinformation.”

The Facebook CEO confirmed that the posts would be banned to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on a segment of Good Morning America.

Stephanopoulos asked Zuckerberg how the company deals “with the fact that Facebook is now being used to organize a lot of these protests to defy social distancing guidelines in states. If somebody trying to organize something like that, does that qualify as harmful misinformation?”

“We do classify that as harmful misinformation and we take that down,” confirmed Zuckerberg, while at the same time saying that it’s important “that people can debate policies.”

Breitbart News also points out what should be obvious to all:

Protests and demonstrations, like other forms of lawful speech, are constitutionally protected. The First Amendment of the United States, in addition to protecting freedom of expression and religion, also specifically protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.

You know what I find harmful? Facebook deciding what is right or wrong.

We still have a First Amendment in this country, despite what state governors might think.  I cannot wait for legal challenges to begin. The power that executives have grabbed with little to no oversight or limits is frightening. What is even more frightening is that most people in the country seem okay with it.

Also, who made Mark Zuckerberg the arbiter of truth? Who made him the speech police? Who made him the one to determine what is good and what is harmful? I think the Stay At Home orders are harmful to many people on many different levels. Therefore, I think the protests are good and beneficial. But, according to Zuckerberg, I’m wrong.

I get that Facebook is a private company. They are not the government. But, in this case, they are conspiring with the government to limit not only speech but also the ability to peaceably assemble. That should trouble all Americans.

Facebook should not have the power to censor free speech

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 20, 2020

Facebook and the state are now one and the same. Even idiot libertarians can't keep saying "FACEBOOK IS NOT THE GOVERNMENT! IT CAN BAN WHATEVER SPEECH IT WANTS" https://t.co/hY2lcSzIHZ

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 20, 2020

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1252293947604430850?s=20

We really want to set the precedent that tech platforms will remove protest events if government tells them to? No way that could go wrong https://t.co/21Zy1k5Iug

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) April 20, 2020