Anti-male feminists are complaining that Facebook is banning them for posts calling men “scum.”
In a Daily Beast article, writer Taylor Lorenz questioned why the platform has started to ban people for attacking men.
“When comic Marcia Belsky sarcastically replied ‘men are scum’ to a friend’s Facebook post back in October, she never anticipated being banned from the platform for 30 days. That was exactly what happened,” Lorenz reported. “Belsky was shocked at the severity of the punishment considering her relatively innocuous comment, and immediately spoke to her fellow female friends about the ordeal. They could relate. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, countless women have taken to Facebook to express their frustration and disappointment with men and have been promptly shut down or silenced, banned from the platform for periods ranging from one to seven days.”
Lorenz explained that posts expressing “men ain’t shit,” “all men are ugly,” and “all men are allegedly ugly” had also resulted in sanctions on the social network.
According to the Daily Beast, “In late November, after the issue was raised in a private Facebook group of nearly 500 female comedians, women pledged to post some variation of ‘men are scum’ to Facebook on Nov. 24 in order to stage a protest. Nearly every woman who carried out the pledge was banned.”
“I personally posted men are scum in November and I received a seven-day ban,” complained comedian Alison Klemp. “It’s still ongoing. Two days and 23 hours left… It wasn’t the best protest because it clearly didn’t work.”
Following complaints, Facebook explained that sexism violates their community standards.
“A Facebook spokesperson said that the statement was an attack and hate speech toward a protected group and so it would rightfully be taken down,” reported Lorenz, adding that “white men are listed as a protected group by the platform.”
Despite the complaints, Facebook has routinely censored more innocent content, which the Daily Beast has frequently ignored.
A gay magazine critical of Islam, an iconic statue of Neptune, a famous Vietnam war image, and Pamela Geller have all be previously censored and sanctioned by Facebook.
Last year, it was also revealed that Facebook deleted 100,000 posts by German users containing “hate.”