Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.
Michael Simms: Banned!
How Facebook and its parent Meta censor posts in order to stifle dissent and promote a pro-military and pro-corporate agenda.
When I founded Vox Populi (VP) in 2014, one of the first things I did was to establish two Facebook (FB) pages, one for VP and another for my personal posts. These pages helped me to build a readership, as well as to connect or re-connect with friends. As a result, the list of subscribers grew quickly. For years, I enjoyed interacting with friends, getting into political debates with strangers, and discovering new artists and writers. In fact, I became somewhat addicted to social media. However, as time went on, the opportunity to network on FB was gradually curtailed. In 2017 or thereabouts, the social media company limited users’ ability to share posts on other people’s pages; and they also deprioritized the status of alternate news sites which resulted in VP’s posts appearing far down in users’ feeds. Then a couple of years ago, FB seemed to target me personally, removing my ability to share posts on other people’s pages altogether. Then, shortly after Israel’s retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attacks, FB began blocking virtually all of VP’s posts about Gaza. At first, they were blocked with a notice that the post “violated community standards”, then other more bizarre notices were given, such as accusations that I was trying to accumulate “likes” in unfair ways; that my posts had failed a fact-check; that my posts endangered the safety of individuals; and that there had been complaints from unnamed people about my posts. My appeals were consistently denied.
Finally, two weeks ago, FB locked me out of my account in a rather sneaky way. They claimed I had to use my password to gain entrance, then when my password didn’t work, they sent me a new one which also didn’t work, then another and another. When I registered a complaint on their helpline, they connected me to a recording telling me to register for a new password, which also didn’t work. They also referred me to Google for “dual authentication” which I never requested, but this process turned out to be yet another rabbit hole with passwords that don’t work. At one point, FB even had me send proof of my identity, including a picture of my driver’s license, my mother’s maiden name, and the name of my first pet. I was also required to jump through various hoops to prove I was an actual person, not a bot. After weeks of this nonsense, I still don’t have access to FB, not even to take down my FB pages. I can’t help but wonder whether my experience is unusual or whether there’s a consistent pattern to FB’s abuses of its power.
What I’ve discovered in my research is that Vox Populi is not alone in experiencing censorship from Facebook. In fact, Meta and its subsidiaries have often been accused of censoring messages critical of Israel and supportive of Palestine. The Guardian reports that during the conflict over the displacement of Palestinians from Jerusalem in 2021, FB deleted hundreds of posts critical of Israel. After being called out, senior FB officials publicly apologized to the Palestinian Prime Minister for censoring pro-Palestinian voices, and yet FB continued the censorship. In a separate incident, Al Jazeera Arabic presenter Tamer Almisshal had his FB profile deleted by Meta 24 hours after his news program aired an investigation into Meta’s censorship of Palestinian content. Almisshal’s investigation included admissions by Eric Barbing, former head of Israel’s cybersecurity apparatus, about his organization’s effort to track Palestinian content according to criteria that included “liking” a photo of a Palestinian killed by Israeli forces.
In December 2023, Human Rights Watch released a report “Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and FB,” demonstrating patterns in suppressing protected speech and content in support of the Palestinian cause. Also in December 2023, Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Meta requesting details on content moderation related to Gaza. Following a blanket denial from Meta, Warren was joined by Bernie Sanders in a follow-up letter asking for more comprehensive answers — which they never received. A February 2024 Access Now report details the censorship of Palestinian reporters and advocates on FB, including removing documentation of human rights abuses.
Let’s be clear. This systemic political censorship shouldn’t be confused with the unrelated chaos caused by Meta’s overuse of AI in determining which posts are acceptable and which should be blocked. For example, FB’s policy of not allowing pornography has resulted in blocking images of breastfeeding, as well as images of apparent breasts (including round marzipan balls on an Easter simnel cake), naked mannequins, kisses between persons of the same sex, family photos, and museum art. Instead, the political censorship that Meta practices is a systematic policy, universally applied and consistently covered up, not just a glitch in the system.
Admittedly, attempts at factual reporting from conflict zones can be controversial. In the fog of battle, competing narratives emerge, but FB has policies that go beyond inevitable ambiguities and which consistently favor official narratives, especially ones given by the US State Department. Criticism of India, Australia, Canada, Turkey, Israel and western European nations is discouraged. For example, In 2016, FB banned and removed content regarding the Kashmir dispute, triggering a response from The Guardian, BBC and other media groups on FB’s policies on censorship. According to the Washington Post, FB banned news reports about the Indian army’s attack on protesters, including children. Similarly, according to Al Jazeera and Public Radio International, FB has a policy to censor anything related to Kurdish opposition against Turkey, such as maps of Kurdistan, flags of Kurdish armed groups (such as PKK and YPG), and criticism of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkey. It is clear that FB has an undeclared policy to practice censorship in line with US foreign policy which generally supports the independence of Kurds in Iraq, but not in Turkey. In October 2021, a secret blacklist of “dangerous individuals and organizations” maintained by FB was discovered by The Intercept, which revealed censorship in the Islamic regions was stricter than in the USA. Critics and scholars have argued that the blacklist and the guidelines that go with it stifle free discussion and create an uneven enforcement of the rules.
In possible violation of laws against unfair business practices, censorship is also used to protect FB’s dominance in the social media industry. Users regularly report that they’ve been censored on FB for being critical of FB itself, with their posts removed or made less visible. For example, in 2019 Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s criticism of FB was consistently deleted from FB. According to the Guardian, FB has systems to monitor specific terms and keywords in order to trigger automatic or semi-automatic action. In a separate report from The Guardian, as well as lawsuits from people who have worked on FB content moderation, former FB moderator Chris Gray has claimed that specific rules exist to monitor and target posts which criticize FB.
Facebook began in 2004 as a dating site for college students, but since then, it has become much more than a social media site. It has grown into a trans-national 1.4 trillion dollar media behemoth generating hundreds of billions of dollars in ad revenue while peddling personal information to whomever is willing to pay for it. Meta and its subsidiaries have infiltrated every level of society from the personal to the corporate to the governmental. Ominously, this entity has more than a commercial agenda: it cooperates with intelligence agencies of nations at war in order to promote official narratives, in effect, becoming an undeclared propaganda machine for Israel and the United States. Meta, and its subsidiaries FB and Instagram, have participated in the cover-up of genocide and settler colonialism while promoting narratives favorable to US military interests.
After having researched abuses committed by Meta, I feel surprisingly grateful to have been banned from FB and to be free of their propaganda. They have, in a sense, saved me from an addiction they created. If you are happy with FB and Instagram, then I encourage you to continue using the platforms, but don’t be surprised if Meta’s violent and abusive agenda leads them to block some of your political posts and then to gaslight you into believing it’s your fault.
Michael Simms is the founder and editor of Vox Populi.
Copyright 2024 Michael Simms
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Lately I have been posting Vox Populi and other important posts under a picture of a monarch butterfly ( a gentle reference to an orange monarch) in Facebook.
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Great strategy, Barb!
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Oh what a shame! Now soon we will have to function like those in Fahrenheit 451!
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Oh what a shame! We will soon have to function like Farhenheit 451
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Mandy, you always have an intellectual refuge here on Vox Populi!
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Sorry to hear this, Michael!
I have been busy retranslating Amy Lowell’s poetry collection for more than a month, working almost day and night, and I didn’t notice this incident happened upon you.
Yesterday, I posted a link on FB that New World Poetry Magazine published your poetry translation for the second time,
but it was removed. The reason was similar to what you wrote in your article. I have been removed several times before this time.
Later, I put the link in the comment and the post was published.
Technological hegemony has already controlled politics.
This is the kind of terrible scene in dystopia.
Fortunately, I can often visit this website and get your news.
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In America, large corporations such as Facebook have a great deal of power. They control the government, the internet and foreign relations.
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A great piece, Mike. Thanks for sharing. I regret that this is happening to you, too, but am not surprised. We live in a time when lying unflinchingly is rewarded, even applauded, and truth telling is a substantial risk. One of the many problems of our society is that remaining willfully innocent/silent/ignorant/compliant won’t save anybody.
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None of this lying would shock me except that the lies are enabling the murder of huge numbers of children in Gaza and elsewhere.
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Sorry to hear this, Michael!
Facebook’s algorithm’s thought I got hacked when I moved over a year ago. They wanted me to verify my identity, but I do not trust them. It was their mistake in the first place. You are right to speak up about Gaza. I question Facebook’s integrity. They need better customer service. I miss Facebook but don’t know if I can get on there. Good luck. Vox Populi is wonderful, and I subscribe through email.
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Thanks for your support and participation, Adrian.
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This just proves Facebook et als duplicity. They feel free to censor what they want but cry CENSORSHIP when they are asked to remove sexist, racist, nazi posts, and flat out lies that could harm folks lives and health. They are the modern equivalent of newspaper and magazine publishers, just electronic now. Imagine a newspaper publishing all the racist, lying, etc., etc. letters to the editor that they received over the years, and then saying: Well, we just provide the platform. Did we say they were violating the First Amendment, censoring speech???? No, they were just trying to be good people.
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You’re right, Mike.
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To be banned is an honor. If anyone needs proof of ongoing censorship, get out a stopwatch and go to Facebook;s “Reels.” If the reel is about something innocuous, it gets up to a minute. If the reel is about the destruction of civilians and an entire culture, it gets about ten seconds. Posts with pictures of those injustices don’t get circulated. I don’t know how I have escaped being banned. But I do know which of my posts get seen by Followers.
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Thanks, Alfred. We seem to have returned to the Robber Baron era of the late 19th century when a few rich men determined everyone’s life. Instead of railroads and steel, we have the internet and microchips. I feel relieved not to think about Facebook anymore.
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What a horrible story. Wish this hadn’t happened to you, Michael. Charlie
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Thanks, Charlie. It is a perverse honor to be banned by FB.
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I’m so sorry this has happened to you and Vox Populi. I also understand your feeling of relief in not having to go to Facebook any more! I still go there but I limit my time on the platform, as I always have. It isn’t good for the soul to be there much. I’m glad the Vox Populi publication links keep landing in my email inbox, which is where I’ve always read them anyway.
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Thanks, Penelope. Yes, not being on FB has freed up hours of my day. I feel free in a way I never have before.
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I try to post innocuous pictures and put Vox Populi and other content they might censor in the comments.
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Does this strategy work, Barbara?
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I think so. I don’t think any were taken down yet
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Great!
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They were only taken down if I posted directly—not in comments.
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I’ve noticed that Robbi Nester is sharing Vox Populi posts on Facebook. She is posting the links. So far I don’t think her posts have been taken down by FB.
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Thanks, Penelope. I think it’s quite clear FB has targeted specific people who post on the subject.
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Someone just told me this same story today about what had happened to you had happend to them with FB, but then the next day, their profile was hacked and proliferated. It was a phishing event, and not really from FB. I hope you might be able to get things straightened out.
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I think we’re past the point where things can be straightened out with FB. Instead, our supporters are posting links to Vox Populi on their own social media pages. That’s the thing about censorship… it creates interest in what is being suppressed.
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Be not discouraged! Many are with you.
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Thanks, Lex.
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Michael, Please keep posting poems of all persuasion. Ironically, Zuckerberg apologized to young teens and their parents about child exploitation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yIsjUXk7AQ
Although I agree it’s best for your sanity to just blow them off, maybe more complaints from your viewers could have an effect such as that.
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Thank you!
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Great Piece, Michael. Nor is Meta alone in this. There’s a Guardian piece I used to teach about how both google and fb were in league with Putin in censoring Alexi Navalny’s criticism of Putin throughout Russia. Indeed, both even willfully banned the Navalny app. This was blatant and highly offensive, not to mention colossally undemocratic, and yet barely registered a blip on our collective radar. I also see this attempted ban of Tik-Tok as more of the same. I’m convinced, however, that strikes and boycotts along with legitimate competition are the answer, even if the former is impractical while the latter David-v-Goliath formidable. And yet, here we all are, rooting and supporting our own little David in the form of Vox Populi. Keep your sling handy, Michael, and go, team, go.
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Thanks, Matt. My sling is small but mighty.
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Well said, Brother. FB claims to be an unbiased forum encouraging free discourse are patently untrue. As a veteran of television news production. I can absolutely state that the most fundamental form of bias is the choice of which stories to cover.
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Thanks, Jack. It’s a shame. FB could have been a force for good…
M
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This doesn’t surprise me at all. Once my repost of a gorgeous poem was deleted and I got the message that it “violated community standards”. I haven’t dared to repost some of the articles from VOX POPULI for that very reason. I sadly need FB for my minimal marketing of my poetry – I also managed to build a lovely community of fellow poets who have become friends. I closed my Twitter account as soon as this unhinged billionaire took over. Yes ‘Zionism’ is a thing, and a very dangerous one. Wehret den Anfängen. But it’s already too late, I fear.
–Rosmarie Epaminondas (Rose Mary Boehm)
http://rosemaryboehm.weebly.com/https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/ https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/* https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9fygcz_kL4LGuYcvmC8lQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9fygcz_kL4LGuYcvmC8lQ
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Wow! Being an nonuser of social media – including FB – I had no idea this was happening. Astonishing and Worrisome! This kind of censorship is scary in its power/effects on avid and broad readership. Plus reinforcement of my avoidance. Harder and harder to find where we can get reliable information, opinions and responses.
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I agree, Jackie. Thanks.
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One could argue that it is simply a problem/product of capitalism, which leaves control of this much-used (and often abused) social media platform in private profit-seeking hands, but I have little doubt that if it were a non-profit state-sponsored company that the results would be different. I’m not surprised, even if dismayed, at the apparent censorship of Michael and VP. VP, unlike many blogs, has maintained a firm set of principles dedicated to not just the beauty in our lives, but the tragedies and crimes in our lives as well. Keep up the good work and know that our support remains as steadfast as your principles.
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Thank you, Mel. Your tireless work for peace, justice and the environment has been an inspiration to me.
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Anyone using the internet as a source for censoring other people would loose the ability to use the internet.
D. Billington
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This is terrible. I too, have had poems blocked after posting them from Marrow magazine.
Mary Morris mary@water400.org http://www.water400.org
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Thanks, Mary. I think it is an increasingly common occurrence on FB.
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your re-posted VP essays (and poems) are a lifeline to many, and keep our eyes open. Don’t stop. This one is a stunner.
I too have been officially banned from having a FB account, because I logged into my wife’s account after she died, changed her status to deceased, and then made the mistake of posting a like from her account to another FBer. Dead don’t post. So my account died, as I was accused by FB of stealing her account. Strangely, hers did not. To gain reinstatement they would pick three friends at random from my friends list of 200, who were mostly former student employees of my library, and make them write testimonials to my character. At that point in 2018 FB lost its luster for me.
YOur case is 100 times worse. There was logic to what happened to me. There is no logic to what FB has done to you, except the twisted logic of censorship and bias against free speech and political differences. Thanks, also, for keeping a record of the actions against you and others. Stay strong and keep paying attention.
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Thanks, Jim. Now that I’ve decided to cut ties with FB, I feel relieved, like quitting a job I’d grown to hate.
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I still feel relief, no regrets.
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I will keep posting Vox Populi as comments under pretty pictures on Facebook until I can’t
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Get a me email address? Us a slightly different version of your name?
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Get a new…
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Censorship comes in many forms, from the murder of journalists on the ground to the consumption of truth in the belly of the beast. Self-censorship, also, is an engineered byproduct, and thanks VPS, for reminding us that we need to continue telling the truth no matter how uncomfortable.
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Thanks, Emily. I admire your principled stand on Gaza and other issues.
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Shared on FB. ♡
Get Outlook for Androidhttps://aka.ms/AAb9ysg
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Thanks, Ellen. We’ll see if FB allows itself to be criticized.
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Did they leave it up?
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Yes, FB left up my posting of Mike’s “Banned” report. I guess they think I am harmless.
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Thanks, Ellen and Barbara!
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I’ve been unconscious to what’s happened to VP because of some health issues that required a hospital procedure but this morning I finally figured out that VP has been shut down(!) and this is my only access to it now. I feel such outrage over the way you’ve been treated by Meta and FB, Michael. I’ve received a few warnings but have not been even suspended. I wonder at the fact that Kathryn Levy seems to have not received similar treatment to VP. I wonder if the number of followers has something to do with it. The reach of the posts.
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Yes, I’ve wondered the same thing, Jan. Why some protestors are shut down and not others.
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A friend just posted this quotation from Clarissa Pinkola Estés:
“What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
We will persevere.
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Perfect! Thank you.
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Thank you for posting the truth about Gaza.
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I feel a responsibility to call out the lies covering up the murders of children.
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