Facebook suspended Ohio senate candidate Josh Mandel for 24 hours after he posted an image that read, “Veterans Before Illegals,” which the social media Masters of the Universe labeled “hate speech” and a violation of the company’s “community standards.” Facebook rescinded the ban and apologized to Mandel following an appeal he filed with the internet giant.
“Facebook’s Ministry of Truth suspended me for saying we should put American military veterans ahead of illegal immigrants,” the senate candidate announced on Twitter on Monday.
Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the second day of testimony before Congress by Zuckerberg, 33, after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign.
“These ungrateful elites have no appreciation that their freedom exists ONLY because American servicemen stand watch in dark places across the globe,” Mandel added.
In his post, Mandel included an image of a screenshot of the notice he received from Facebook, which read, “You can’t post or comment for 24 hours,” because, “you previously posted something that didn’t follow our Community Standards.”
“This post goes against our standards on hate speech, so only you can see it,” the message from Facebook added. “Repeatedly violating our Community Standards can cause further account restrictions.”
The image Mandel posted, which was deemed “hate speech” by Facebook simply read, “Veterans Before Illegals.”
Mandel told Breitbart News: “As a Marine vet who served in Iraq and served honor guard at multiple Marine funerals, I find this action from Facebook as both sad and un-American.”
“Silicon Valley seems to be full of ungrateful elites who have no appreciation that their freedom exists only because American servicemen stand watch in dark places throughout the globe,” Mandel added.
Facebook rescinded the suspension and apologized to Mandel shortly after Mandel appealed the suspension.
Facebook claimed that the decision to suspend Mandel’s account was made in error.
“We’re sorry we got this wrong. We reviewed your post and it does follow our Community Standards,” read a message from Facebook to Mandel, after the senate candidate appealed the suspension.
Correcton — This story as published stated that Facebook reversed Mandel’s suspension after Breitbart News sent a request for comment on the situation to the company. In fact, the suspension was reversed based on Mandel’s appeal before the request for comment was sent.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.