By: Anthony Morelli
Facebook doesn’t want anyone talking about guns or gun rights on their platform.
They are taking some dramatic steps to silence people from speaking.
And this latest example of their censorship is truly unbelievable.
Big Tech’s dislike of guns apparently extends to Olympians who are participating in shooting sports at the Paris 2024 Games.
Facebook has long censored all kinds of gun-related content, as people who try to run ads relating to gun rights and the Second Amendment have found out the hard way.
But now they are even censoring Olympians who aren’t pushing a political message, but simply trying to express their love for the sport they participate in.
Shooting sports have a long history in the Olympics, and there is nothing political about them. It’s just competition for some of the best shooters in the world.
But Facebook apparently thinks that this message could persuade more people to want to own guns.
They decided to flag the posts of one top competitor and deliver her a warning about continuing to post pictures of guns, even as it relates to her own Olympic sport.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “McKenna Geer is scheduled to represent Team USA at the Paralympic Games in Paris next month. The 28-year-old Washington state native, who was born with a muscular disorder called amyoplasia arthrogryposis, will compete in the air-rifle event. Yet if Ms. Geer wants to post about her athletic adventures abroad on social media, she’ll likely be out of luck. Why? Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has shadow-banned her for her shooting-related posts.”
She isn’t trying to push political messages about gun rights, although she should have every right to do that as well.
She is just an Olympian who wants to let people know about her experience at the Games.
The article continues, “Earlier this month, Ms. Geer shared a photo on Instagram of the air rifle she used to qualify for the Paralympic Games. The company flagged the photo as out of line with its guidelines and informed her that non-followers wouldn’t be able to view her account or content in Instagram’s search, explore suggested users or similar features. ‘Our Recommendations Guidelines help to promote content that fosters a safe community on Instagram,’ Meta wrote in its explanation of why it wouldn’t promote her account.”
Here is what she said: “I have always feared the day the media would censor my sport and speech just because I use firearms.”
They say they are trying to “foster a safe community,” but none of her posts were threatening anyone’s safety.
Her sport is as much of an Olympic sport as basketball, volleyball, windsurfing, breakdancing, or whatever other sports they’ve thrown into the Games this year.
None of those athletes have any issues posting content about their competition, so why should she be censored?
Big Tech employees apparently believe that firearms shouldn’t exist, even in extremely controlled environments like the Olympics, and they are shadow-banning people who post them.