Facebook and Twitter have gone on a deplatforming spree, suspending many accounts of prominent left-wing groups and personalities. This includes socialist student organizations and several accounts used by the radical anarcho-communist group Antifa. Many of these pages had thousands or tens of thousands of followers.
According to OANN, there has been speculation that the wave of suspensions is a consequence of the violent riots that erupted in Portland following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Independent journalist and Antifa expert Andy Ngo called the move by Twitter "too little too late."
"I wonder why they didn't act when we were at the height of the violent riots across the U.S. that lasted for months," he added. (Related: Google data suggests Black Lives Matter is terrorism, a violent election tool, BLM/Antifa useful idiots get buyer's remorse.)
According to Ngo, some of the other radical leftist Twitter accounts that have been suspended include The Base, an "Antifa extremist center" and far-left bookstore based out of Brooklyn; the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement – and its Twitter account for its cell in New York City, an organization that calls for the release of all prisoners and the dismantling of the criminal justice system; and Jewish Worker, a far-left Jewish man who identifies as a socialist and an anti-Zionist.
Facebook turns on the left, shutting down socialist pages
Facebook has also suspended multiple accounts and pages belonging to far-left groups and personalities in the U.S. as well as overseas. One of the latter is the page of the Socialist Workers Party, a "revolutionary socialist" and communist political party in the United Kingdom, along with its student wing, the Socialist Workers' Student Society.
The pages of the World Socialist Web Site, a far-left "Trotskyist" news site based out of Michigan, and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality chapter based out of Michigan were also banned. The account of Genevieve Leigh, the national secretary of the IYSSE in the United States, was also suspended.
Unfortunately, these accounts have since been restored, with a spokesperson from Facebook saying that the pages were accidentally removed from the website due to an "automation error."
Facebook did not provide any further details other than saying that it apologizes for the error. The big tech company has also not responded to any media requests for clarifications regarding what the automation error was, how it occurred and why it only affected the accounts and pages of several notable left-wing groups and personalities.
The socialists who run the pages are furious at the supposed "bias against left-wing voices." Far-left activists said that Facebook has a pattern of deliberately trying to undermine their voices. The Socialist Workers Party's evidence for this supposed bias is that several accounts belonging to activists affiliated with the party were shut down "in error" last December.
Some of the accounts that were suspended include the personal account of Niles Niemuth, the World Socialist Web Site's managing editor and the 2016 vice presidential candidate of the revolutionary socialist and Trotskyist Socialist Equality Party.
"They don't even provide means by which you can recover your account," said David North, chairman of the World Socialist Web Site's editorial board. "It's like the police storming in and seizing everything you have."
North is uncertain of how many accounts were affected. He is further concerned that this wave of suspensions may not be the last that he and other socialists on Facebook have to deal with.
"Even though this particular ban has been [reversed], it's a warning we don't know what might come next."
Chris Marsden, national secretary of the British Socialist Equality Party believes that Facebook has far too much influence for them to be deplatforming anyone they wish.
"Social media … is privately owned but to all intents and purposes it's what used to be the market square," he said. "They're using their power in a way that's completely undemocratic."
This is one of the first times leftists have raised concerns regarding bias in Facebook. On the contrary, Facebook is usually accused of anti-conservative bias, most recently after it followed Twitter's footsteps and suspended the account of former president Donald Trump "indefinitely."
Facebook justified this by arguing, without evidence, that Trump attempted to use his supporters to incite an insurrection, and that his continued presence on the website may lead to further violence.
Learn more about the latest actions of far-left organizations like those listed above and their allies in Antifa by reading the latest articles at AntifaWatch.news.
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