Left-wing alternative media outlet Reverb Press was blacklisted from Facebook and Twitter last week, just months after celebrating Infowars’ mass purge from the same platforms. Reverb Press now complains, “It’s absurd that Facebook thinks it can define what is ‘legitimate’ news.”
In August and September, Reverb Press published three articles celebrating Infowars’ ban from most social networks and Big Tech services, including, “YouTube Finally Flushed Alex Jones for Hate Speech and The Tinfoil Hat Brigade is Melting Down,” and “Alex Jones is Finished on Facebook and the Internet is Rejoicing.”
In these articles, writers for Reverb Press made statements like, “Conspiracy creep finally got what he deserved,” and referred to his “danger as a propagandist.”
Now, Reverb Press has also been banned from Facebook and Twitter.
Reverb Press was just one of the hundreds of pages, which included independent news outlets, banned from Facebook and Twitter this month, such as the news page of a disabled veteran who had invested more than $300,000 in Facebook advertising.
Following the purge, former Reverb Press World Affairs Editor, Marc Belisle, complained in an article for BuzzFeed News that “It’s absurd that Facebook thinks it can define what is ‘legitimate’ news.”
“Facebook’s characterization of the kind of work we did — and our motives for doing it — is wrong, and those who support a free press in America should be very worried about how the company disappeared our page,” Belisle proclaimed, ignoring Reverb Press’ support for Infowars’ ban just months prior. “While its decision to kill off politics pages is not legally a First Amendment issue, it raises major free speech questions.”
In an article published following Reverb Press’ ban, Infowars declared, “Reverb Press’s last post was on October 11th, the day of the banning, so it appears the site has been shut down. This is why you defend free speech no matter who is in the crosshairs.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/ss9pI4AlTwg/