[Update at end of post]
Excellent though the news was that at last Facebook had permanently banned Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, there was yet more good news to come: the social media platform has taken down the pages of several more out there on the far right. The resultant outbreak of paranoia has been quite the sight to see.
Excellent though the news was that at last Facebook had permanently banned Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, there was yet more good news to come: the social media platform has taken down the pages of several more out there on the far right. The resultant outbreak of paranoia has been quite the sight to see.
Almost as soon as news emerged of Lennon’s ban - as Jim Waterson at the Guardian pointed out, this was the inevitable conclusion after Facebook had given him a written warning around a month ago - it became clear that others out there on the right had also been taken out, not least Lennon’s pal, amateur comedy kidnapper Daniel Thomas.
Thomas howled “Facebook have removed Tommy Robinson's Facebook account and mine !!! #Censorship”, thus demonstrating that he does not know the meaning of the term “censorship”, and nor does he understand that Facebook is not the Government. In the meantime, UKiP leader Adolf von Batten was stoking the paranoia.
“After 1m views of Tommy’s Panorama film his Facebook account has been shut down - for BS reasons. Simultaneously articles appear in the Guardian & Independent. The left’s establishment are closing ranks & counter attacking. The people have only one weapon their votes. Join UKIP”. Anyone to his left is “the left establishment”. What a clown.
Then another Lennon fan let slip that he, too, had been thrown off the platform. Jordan James of Politicalite whimpered “I’ve been banned from @Facebook today due to my political beliefs along with fellow kippers and other Alternaive [sic] Media voices. I woke up to find I couldn’t communicate my friends or family or writers. This is free speech in 2019. Shocking. I will never give up! #TommyRobinson”. Another Grade A tosser.
The paranoia continued. Ezra Levant of Rebel Media told “Two days after his massive rally in Manchester, Facebook permanently shuts down Tommy Robinson’s million-person Facebook page. Amongst his thought crimes are organizing events with people they don’t like” and Battersea bedroom dweller Paul Watson added “Tommy Robinson being banned by Facebook and Instagram was timed deliberately so he couldn’t defend himself against the BBC hit piece about to come out. This is how they operate”. THEM. US. SCARY!
Kipper Central and Unity News Network have also, it seems, been taken down. But the pièce de résistance came when Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam told the world “What a thing to wake up to. My personal Facebook profile has been deleted, with no warning or explanation. I can no longer administer my fan page, with over 150,000 likes”. Woah! Hey! Facebook took out Walter Mitty Kassam! Let joy be unconfined!
So it this censorship? Is it buggery. Facebook, like Twitter (which banned Lennon nearly a year ago), has terms and conditions, and persistently flouting them can lead to being kicked off that platform. That is what happened to Stephen Lennon. It is also what happened to Daniel Thomas, Unity News Network, Kipper Central, Jordan James … and the gobby but increasingly irrelevant Raheem Kassam.
Mess within the T&Cs, get kicked off. It’s a simple message. But maybe not simple enough for the far right brains trust to take on board. I’ll just leave that one there.
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[UPDATE 1745 hours: Raheem Kassam has now claimed that Facebook has reinstated his account.
For now, that is]
[UPDATE 1745 hours: Raheem Kassam has now claimed that Facebook has reinstated his account.
For now, that is]
ReplyDeleteIn case you (and he) missed it, the Guardian's Marina Hyde recently described neo-fascism's Gerald Batten rather neatly as:
'a sort of radicalised Just For Men box'.
Deserves greater circulation, I think.
"Alternaive" is a great slip though.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it time for "Tommy" to realise the game's up?
ReplyDeleteHe should stick to playing ludo. He can't own-goal in that.
Imagine a lout being banned from his local Rose & Crown. Would this mean he could not buy ale from another hostelry elsewhere? And even if banned from every pub within a five-mile radius, he would still be able to buy alcohol from any supermarket, off-licence or newsagent.
ReplyDeleteSo why do these far-right knuckleheads think they are somehow silenced when a private communications platform such as Facebook or Twitter deletes their account? Does this stop them from using an alternative? Does this stop them actually saying what they want? Has Mark Zuckerberg actually put a knife in their mouths and cut out their collective tongues? I think not.
iMatt - That would be good though.
ReplyDeleteTaking that analogy further, what's the social media equivalent of a rough pub with a flat roof with a noisy dog prowling around on it?
ReplyDeleteThere's always Gab.
ReplyDelete