Franklin Graham: Facebook’s Ban on My Account Was a ‘Personal Attack’

The Rev. Franklin Graham called Facebook’s decision to place a temporary ban on his account a “personal attack” on him in a Sunday interview with Fox News.

“Why are they going back to 2016,” Graham, who serves as president of the evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told Fox News on Sunday after he spoke about the social networking site’s efforts to police content.

“I think it was just really a personal attack toward me,” he added.

Graham’s comments come one day after a Facebook representative confirmed that the evangelist had been banned from the social networking site for 24 hours because of a 2016 post on North Carolina’s House Bill 2.

The post in question referred to rocker Bruce Springsteen’s comments calling House Bill 2— also known as the bathroom bill— a step “backwards instead of forwards.”

“He says the NC law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms is going ‘backwards instead of forwards,’” Graham’s post from 2016, which referred to Springsteen, reads. “Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honoring His commands.”

Graham, whose Facebook page has been restored, called the social media giant’s censorship efforts a “problem.”

“The problem with Facebook, if you disagree with their position on sexual orientation then you could be classified as hate speech, or that you’re a racist. This is a problem,” Graham said.

The evangelist also hoped Facebook “would look to the Bible” to learn from “God’s word.”

“The Bible is truth, and I would hope [Facebook] would look to the Bible and get some instruction from God’s word.”

A Facebook representative confirmed someone from the company would send an apology to the person who runs Graham’s Facebook page.

Even though Graham had a clear opinion on Facebook efforts to monitor content, the evangelist said he would accept an apology from the social media company.