Len Hanley: Are Facebook standards limiting spam, or restricting opinions?

To The Daily Sun,

If we lived in a communist country like China, I would expect censorship. I would expect the government to track me and keep tabs on whether or not I was being a "good citizen." I would also expect my ability to communicate on my computer via social media, and even emails to be restricted and heavily monitored by "independent fact-checkers" who can and do censor what the government tells them to. But, I don't. I live in the freest nation in the world, the United States. Or so I thought.

I wrote "Learning lessons from Jesus" on Dec. 29, 2020, as a letter to the editor, which was published. Last year I posted it to the group "Jesus Is Lord" on Facebook with the link to the letter. Then I received an objection from Facebook calling it spam. Spam? According to Facebook’s community standards regarding spam, the company says it limits the spread of spam “because we do not want to allow content that is designed to deceive, or that attempts to mislead users to increase viewership.” I don't need Facebook telling or rather dictating to me such things as they don't hold to Jesus Christ's standards, nor my own. Besides there was nothing about it that violated their definition. Read it yourself and see at laconiadailysun.com. Just type it in the search bar.

On Dec. 14, 2021, Facebook finally admitted the truth that many have suspected for a long time: The “fact checks” that they use to police what Americans read and watch are just “opinion.” That’s thanks to a lawsuit brought by celebrated journalist John Stossel, which has exposed how their supposed battle against “misinformation” as a farce. They said they didn't like his tone, but his facts were fine.  Thank you Mr. Stossel for having the courage so few journalists would and do have to do this. Yet Facebook continues to do this very "fact check" which they were sued for to begin with. How can we know they aren't "opinion checking" again or maybe it should be called "tone checking?" So, perhaps they have learned nothing or they think they are so above the law that it doesn't matter, even with something that does not violate any of their standards.

The Facebook account of Brice Gage Watkins remained active even after the U.S. Marshal Service arrested Watkins for allegedly raping a  one-year-old child, recording the act, then distributing it to his friends via Facebook Messenger. Yet my editorial which simply shares lessons from the sinless Jesus Christ is censored as spam? I put the question to my fellow Christians, therefore: If Facebook is against our religion, being allowed to share our thoughts and communicate about it, should we stay on it or go to a better social media organization such as Gettr or Rumble?

Len Hanley

Barnstead