Rumours claiming that Facebook are banning and actively removing pro-gun Facebook content such as Pages and posts.
The notion that Facebook are banning the content made by one particular side of a controversial subject is one that we often see on Facebook.
In the past we have seen rumours floating about that Facebook are banning pro-Democratic content, pro-Republican content, pro-Obama content, pro-Abortion content, certain religious content. We’ve seen rumours claiming that Facebook are banning content to do with conspiracy theories, New World Order posts and even posts about alien abductions.
Essentially no matter what side of a particular controversial fence you can be on, at some point there has been a rumour that Facebook are banning its content from their site.
Such rumours can often be triggered by legitimate news. In the case of pro-gun content, March 2014 saw another emergence of a rumour claiming that Facebook were banning pro-gun content. The rumour was false, but came about because Facebook announced that it was to actively ban content from the site which is deemed was promoting illegal gun sales. Facebook also announced it would prevent minors from seeing content related to gun sales. You can see that despite the news being legitimate, in this case it spawned a false rumour.
More often than not however, rumours about Facebook banning certain content often begin as a direct result of Facebook’s user-reliant and fundamentally flawed reporting system.
No matter what the intention of a post or particular piece of content on Facebook, if it represents a side or argument of a controversial subject (such as gun control) then it is likely to receive complaints and reports from users who disagree.
If Facebooks automated filtering system detects a certain pattern that suggests inappropriate content, then it is likely to remove the content without human supervision. Leaving the Facebook user who posted the content under the false belief that Facebook have “banned” the content, and thus banning the argument it was expressing as well.
Generally you can easily demonstrate that Facebook have not banned [in this case] pro-gun content by browsing the plethora of pro-gun content that takes pride and place on Facebook as you read this right now.
Facebooks flawed reporting system has come under the firing line more than once, and has been blamed for being the catalyst for various rumours, including one that claimed Facebook were banning images based on Christianity.
Another reason rumours like this circulate is simply because of propaganda. Activists on one side of an argument circulate rumours that Facebook are banning their views, whilst simultaneously imploring people to circulate their views “before Facebook removes it” – thus helping their content spread faster and wider across Facebook.
Other reasons can of course be simple errors in judgement, or that the content violates Facebooks terms of service in a way that the poster did not realise.
Whatever the reason, the answer is no. Facebook are not banning pro-gun content. At least not on the basis that it is pro-gun content.
