Facebook got into a war with Mike Harris over an anti-abortion cartoon he posted to the site. It took down the cartoon from his professional Facebook page. He responded by putting it on his personal page. Facebook then issued a 3-day ban. Facebook has taken no action against other people sharing the same cartoon.
The cartoon itself, while provocative, certainly doesn’t appear to meet the definition of hate speech as it does not target any specific group for unfair treatment or persecution. In fact, it is evoking the same argument made by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his recent concurring opinion. This act by Facebook is a clear example of partisan political bias, pure and simple. Recent states are taking action to curb the abuse of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and this recent action will only add fuel to the fire.
In my video below, I discuss some of the ramifications of this decision, why I think it’s out of line, and what we can expect next. You can check out other work by Mike Harris at his official website here.
