X Suspends CN Live! Producer; Facebook Blocks CN Pieces

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Consortium News is appealing the decisions taken by the two social media giants.

X has suspended the account of the executive producer of Consortium News‘ webcast CN Live! without indicating which X rules were allegedly violated. 

Cathy Vogan’s account was restricted three weeks ago for what X told her was a “technical issue” after she fulfilled a requirement to prove that she was not a bot. To the public, her account appeared saying it was “restricted” because of “unusual activity.”  All of the accounts she followed were stripped to zero.  

Each time she contacted X, Vogan was told her “case” had been closed and to open a new one. After doing that several times, on Tuesday last week she discovered the account had been suspended, because “X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.” 

Those rules include prohibitions on violent content, abuse or harassment, hateful content and doxxing. The decision was made without producing any evidence of the violation of X’s rules. Vogan is appealing the decision and continues her work with Consortium News.

Meanwhile, Facebook last Tuesday blocked the posting of a Consortium News article, “A History of Humiliation,” because it allegedly violated Facebook’s “community standards.” 

The article argues that U.S. administrations since 1991 have ignored the warning of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 not to put an adversary into a position of choosing between a “humiliating retreat or nuclear war.” The article contends the Biden administration is dangerously in the midst of doing just that with Russia. 

Facebook says it was removed because it was “spam,” adding, “The post may use misleading links or content to trick people to visit, or stay on, a website.”  Facebook further explains:

“We do not allow content that is designed to deceive, mislead, or overwhelm users in order to artificially increase viewership. This content detracts from people’s ability to engage authentically on our platforms and can threaten the security, stability and usability of our services. We also seek to prevent abusive tactics, such as spreading deceptive links to draw unsuspecting users in through misleading functionality or code, or impersonating a trusted domain.”  

Consortium News contends that an article that seeks to avoid nuclear war by highlighting a warning of a past U.S. president and explaining how it has been ignored by subsequent presidents is not “designed to deceive, mislead, or overwhelm users in order to artificially increase viewership.”

Nor does it “detract from people’s ability to engage authentically on [Facebook’s] platforms and can threaten the security, stability and usability of [Facebook’s] services.” Later last Wednesday it became impossible to post a Chris Hedges video and text, “To Kill a People,” on Facebook for the same sham spam reason.

CN is awaiting answers on its appeals.

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