Facebook Shuts Down Utah Pro-Gun Page

Social media likes to pretend that it doesn’t have a bias. They like to argue that they’re neutral and are simply trying to make their sites a safe place for everyone.

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Of course, know that to be absolute BS. We’ve all seen examples of left-leaning behavior be ignored by companies like Facebook while they hammer less egregious acts by right-leaning users, just to name one example.

We’ve also seen pages that support things like the Second Amendment get shut down time and time again, all while Antifa still has their pages. Well, we can add another victim to the lists.

The Facebook page belonging to an armed Utah group formed in response to protests against police brutality is among thousands shut down after the social media platform announced it would remove accounts discussing potential violence.

Facebook expanded its policy Wednesday on people and groups it deems dangerous, saying it will now take down or restrict accounts it sees as a public safety threat but that don’t meet the higher standard for a ban from the platform.

But Utah Citizens Alarm founder Casey Robertson says his group never advocated for violence.

“Facebook seems to be confused about the difference between the constitutional right to bear arms and a propensity for and inclination toward violence,” Robertson said in a statement.

Robertson founded the pro-police group as a response to a July protest in Provo where authorities say a demonstrator shot an SUV driver as the vehicle pushed through protesters who surrounded it in a crosswalk. The driver was struck in the arm.

Since then, dozens of the militia’s members sporting tactical gear and rifles have faced off against those protesting police in Salt Lake City, Provo and Cottonwood Heights.

Robertson said Wednesday the group supports First Amendment rights but opposes violent or destructive behavior. Utah Citizens’ Alarm will continue coordinating on its website after Facebook took down its page and those of its administrators “without warning and seemingly without any recourse,” Robertson said.

“This isn’t going to stop us. Not even close,” he added. “It’s going to just make us stronger.”

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It should be noted that many of those riots, the very thing that Utah Citizens Alarm was founded to counter, are coordinated on sites like Facebook. Yet Facebook does little to nothing to address them.

Now, understand that Facebook is a private entity and they can do pretty much whatever they want with it. However, they also enjoy certain protections because they’re considered a platform versus a publisher. Yet this one-sided bias by Facebook is a problem.

They’re not acting like a platform. They’re removing accounts that they believe to be “dangerous” even if there’s no real reason to believe them to so…unless that believe is driven more by ideology than facts.

Look, I have no idea what Utah Citizens Alarm may or may not have posted on their page. While I believe them when they said they didn’t post anything against the rule, I honestly don’t care if the did, either.

Time and time again, we’ve seen Facebook lower the boom on pro-Second Amendment pages and users while people who post even more vile things seem to get a pass. Groups like Antifa and BLM–an organization that tried to justify looting in Chicago–get to chug right along.

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A lot of people aren’t going to be fans of the hypocrisy.

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