Last month, Facebook started limiting the reach of posts from pro-life non-profit Live Action and sending “fact-check” notifications to thousands of its followers, warning that posts from the page had been labeled “False.” At the time, Live Action’s founder and president Lila Rose said that two of the supposedly “independent” fact-checkers who fact-checked these posts have significant ties to pro-abortion advocacy organizations.
Earlier today, Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mike Braun, and Kevin Cramer sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding that the company “immediately issue a correction, remove any restrictions placed on the pages of Live Action and Lila Rose, and submit to an external audit.”
Shortly after this letter was sent, Rose reported that “in possible retaliation,” the Live Action Facebook page had been hit with a “violation” and that thousands of its followers had received another alert labeling posts from the page as “False.”
BREAKING:
In possible retaliation against a letter from US Senators to Mark Zuckerberg, @Facebook just sent ANOTHER alert to thousands of our followers saying @LiveAction’s content is “false”—using the “fact check” by two abortionists. They also added a “violation” to our page.
BREAKING: Following this morning's letter from various US Senators demanding @Facebook rectify this situation, @facebook has just sent ANOTHER push notification our followers claiming that we are spreading "false news"
This is truly unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/Qr3auabaaJ
Later, Rose said that Facebook representatives had been reaching out and reassuring her and Live Action that the fact-checking system is being updated and that the strikes will be removed from Live Action’s accounts. The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) also released a statement saying that it will be investigating the accusations of bias against these Facebook fact-checkers.
Behind the scenes, @Facebook reps have been reassuring us that they will be updating their “factchecking” system & will be REMOVING strikes from our accounts.
They have just now ADDED another “violation” for content shared over a month ago
The censorship is out of control
UPDATE: @Facebook is now saying they will remove the “violations” on my & @LiveAction’s accounts—& that they & @factchecknet will “investigate” the article, authored by two partisan abortionists, used to punish our pages
However, as of now, our accounts still have the violations https://t.co/6nOHVdDEgN
Hawley followed up on Rose’s comments by saying that Facebook had also told him that it will restore Live Action’s and Rose’s posts. He added that Facebook had asked the IFCN to investigate “how pro-abortion activists got certified as “neutral” fact-checkers.”
@facebook has also asked their “independent” fact check organization to open investigation into how pro-abortion activists got certified as “neutral” fact checkers
While Facebook has told both Hawley and Rose that the restrictions on Live Action’s pages will be removed, Rose says that as of now, Facebook has not followed through and the “False” ratings are still being applied to Live Action’s posts.
As of now, the posts are still NOT restored. They still have the “false” rating, applied by the two partisan abortionists.@facebook, @sherylsandberg – you told @HawleyMO you are going to fix this. What’s the hold up? https://t.co/s3NOo4ewUh
If Facebook does end up lifting the restrictions on Live Action’s page, it would represent a notable reversal of its previously aggressive and often provably inaccurate fact-checking which has led to even jokes and memes on Instagram being labeled “false”.
Update – September 12, 2019: Rose says that Facebook has removed Live Action’s page violations but says it may still be penalized again after an investigation.
UPDATE: @facebook has removed our page violations, saying we may be penalized again after an “investigation”
No apology or update sent to the 1000s of our followers they had contacted
The abortionists’ “fact-check,” lying about our videos, remains on Facebook’s partner website
The fact-check article which was being used has also been updated with content from more pro-abortion activists.
More activist abortionists are now included in the “fact-check” article, like @DrJenGunter.
Not a single pro-life ObGyn has been included
The abortionists’ article is riddled w/ inaccuracies & misrepresentations
This is Orwellian. @Facebook’s “fact check” system is a disaster
Additionally, Senator Hawley has asked Facebook to “tell all of Live Action’s followers that the “fact-check” was bogus.”
.@facebook needs to do the right thing & update all @LiveAction followers that the “fact check” was bogus https://t.co/9KYQ5cm9q7
