Facebook Cancels GOP Governor After She Posts Withering Criticism of Biden's Vaccine Mandate
It must have been the algorithm.
It was a mistake. Done in error. A bit of data went astray at a server bank in Utah and — wouldn’t you know it? — GOP Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey found herself locked out of her Facebook page. And after she spoke out about President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, too!
Of all the rotten luck.
According to AL.com, the online home of the Birmingham News and affiliated publications, the governor’s campaign page was unpublished from Facebook Sept. 14 but was restored after her campaign appealed the suspension. Ivey said her campaign “fought back and won.”
“Evidently, they’re upset that I said I’m standing in the way of President Biden to protect Alabamians from this outrageous overreach by the federal government,” Ivey said.
Facebook banned my campaign page this morning. We fought back and won. Evidently, they’re upset that I said I’m standing in the way of President Biden to protect Alabamians from this outrageous overreach by the federal government. (1/2)
— Kay Ivey (@kayiveyforgov) September 14, 2021
“If big tech thinks they can silence us and that I won’t fight back, then honey, they haven’t met me. They have another thing coming,” she continued.
“I’m not backing down. I never will. We’re fighting Washington. We’ll fight big tech, too.”
If big tech thinks they can silence us and that I won’t fight back, then honey, they haven’t met me. They have another thing coming. I’m not backing down. I never will. We’re fighting Washington. We’ll fight big tech too. — KI (2/2) #alpolitics
— Kay Ivey (@kayiveyforgov) September 14, 2021
In an emailed statement to The Hill, Facebook acknowledged that the governor’s campaign page was “mistakenly restricted for less than an hour.”
“When we learned of our mistake, the page was quickly restored,” said a spokesperson from Facebook said.
The suspension came days after Ivey had used her social media to hit back at the president’s vaccine mandate, according to an earlier AL.com report.
In particular, Ivey targeted part of Biden’s speech where he said, “if these governors won’t help, I will use my power as president to get them out of the way.”
As The Associated Press noted, this came during a portion of the speech dealing with states that have battled teachers’ unions on statewide mask mandates in classrooms; Alabama leaves that decision up to individual school districts.
“You bet I’m standing in the way. And if he thinks he’s going to move me out of the way, he’s got another thing coming. I’m standing as strong as a bull for Alabama against this outrageous Washington overreach. Bring it on,” Ivey said.
You bet I’m standing in the way. And if he thinks he’s going to move me out of the way, he’s got another thing coming. I’m standing as strong as a bull for Alabama against this outrageous Washington overreach. Bring it on. — KI #alpolitics https://t.co/sFT8cfgdjt
— Kay Ivey (@kayiveyforgov) September 10, 2021
“I encourage Alabamians to take the vaccine — have been since the beginning, but we’re never going to mandate it. And we certainly aren’t going to allow Washington, D.C. and this president to tell Alabama what to do. Here in AL, we don’t put up with that nonsense.”
She’d also described the mandates as “outrageous” and “overreaching,” saying they would “no doubt be challenged in the courts.”
And it’s just a coincidence that their page was “mistakenly” taken down by the social media giant. Facebook insisted the content on her page played no role in the temporary unpublishing.
The Associated Press reported that it was flagged as an imposter account, instead.
Ivey’s campaign called this a “nonsense excuse,” citing the fact they had been told the page was being unpublished because of “harassment and bullying.”
Gov. Ivey apparently doesn’t remember this is always a mistake. Whenever a social media platform or some other organ of big tech bans a conservative who’s recently said something inconvenient, it’s a big misunderstanding. Something went screwy with the doohickey. A piece of data made a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Don’t worry about it.
Surely big tech has given you every reason to trust them, right?
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