Tech Censorship: Instagram Bans Pro-Trump Cartoonist Ben Garrison
Tom Pappert
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Pro-Trump political cartoonist Ben Garrison was banned from Instagram earlier today, as the platform claimed he posted hate speech and violated the platform’s terms.
Garrison discovered his ban when logging into the platform today. He was greeted with a notification seeming to suggest the cartoonist posted something the platform considers “hate speech,” however, it is unclear what may have been offensive about his post.
“We removed your post because it doesn’t follow our Community Guidelines on hate speech or symbols,” the notification read. “If you violate our guidelines again, your account may be restricted or disabled.”
When Garrison attempted to accept the notification and access his count, he received a second notification informing him “Your account has been disabled for violating our terms.”
Garrison took to Twitter, citing his ban as an example of tech censorship and bias.
“#WhosNext” wrote Garrison, “Anyone who disagrees with the #Democrat Narrative #censorship ramp up for #2020Elections” he asked rhetorically. Garrison also used the #StopTheBias hashtag popularized by President Donald J. Trump.
https://twitter.com/GrrrGraphics/status/1118185748102909952
Garrison joins a slew of conservatives who have been banned from the Facebook-owned platform.
British commentator and politician Tommy Robinson was banned last year during his legal hurdles, with former Proud Boys leader and VICE founder Gavin McInnes banned two months later.
Last week, Canadian politician and journalist Faith Goldy gave an exclusive interview to Big League Politics after she was banned by Facebook and Instagram.
“Facebook, without any warning to me, has informed Canada’s state journalists that they consider me to be a ‘Dangerous Individual,’” Faith Goldy told Big League Politics.
“What a farce! I’m a 29-year-old Canadian girl who loves my country and makes videos citing statistics from my kitchen table,” she continued. “If enemies of nationalism consider little ol’ me to be a threat, it shows you how weak their arguments really are. Newsflash: Ideas took countries and whole continents by storm long before Instagram models and Facebook likes were a thing.”
Goldy was banned from Instagram, too, which is owned by Facebook.
Last month Facebook, the parent company of Instagram, was forced to apologize after it banned President Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino.
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