Leslie Mac, activist and co-founder of Safety Pin Box, was reportedly banned from Facebook after posting about racism. “White folks. When racism happens in public – YOUR SILENCE IS VIOLENCE,” her post read.
According to TechCrunch, Mac’s post was shared by actor Matt McGorry (Orange Is the New Black), which led to wider reach and an onslaught of criticism. Mac was then unable to post or comment on Facebook, though her profile remained up.
Mac’s post did not appear to violate any of Facebook’s community standards, and was likely reported by McGorry’s followers who disagreed with her, accusing her of “reverse racism” and McGorry of being “anti white people.” Mac told TechCrunch, “The question becomes, what is Matt’s responsibility in this scenario? There’s this piece about responsibility when we have large follower counts and lots of people who follow us, and what that means for the people you expose to that audience. I wouldn’t say it’s his fault, but I would say it’s a responsibility.”
https://twitter.com/LeslieMac/status/811927305304031233
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mac about the incident, but she posted on Twitter saying her account is back up after approximately seven hours, and that Facebook said her post was removed in error. For its part, Facebook told TechCrunch, “Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong.”
https://twitter.com/LeslieMac/status/812022509348487169
This is not the first time Facebook has banned a user without seeing if the complaints were justified. Over the summer, Facebook deleted popular meme pages without warning. Journalist Shaun King was suspended after posting hate mail he received. Facebook also censored the iconic “Napalm Girl” image on grounds that contained child nudity.