Facebook Slaps Hate Speech Label on The Babylon Bee Website
By Movieguide® Contributor
Popular Christian satire website The Babylon Bee has accused Facebook of censorship after the social media site labeled one of their posts “hate speech.”
The post was about JEOPARDY! champ Amy Schneider, a transgender person. The headline reads, “Trans Woman Breaks Jeopardy Record, Proving Once And For All That Men Are Smarter Than Women.”
“Facebook just removed one of @TheBabylonBee’s posts for ‘hate speech,’” managing editor Joel Berry tweeted, adding, “Pretty proud of this. It’s not often we manage to get transphobia and misogyny into one headline.”
Facebook just removed one of @TheBabylonBee's posts for "hate speech" 😂 pic.twitter.com/k9vaLhuEBK
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) February 21, 2022
The company’s CEO, Seth Dillon, said that they intend to have the decision appealed.
“Remember how Facebook recently rolled out new rules stipulating that ‘real satire’ cannot ‘punch down’?” he said in a statement about the situation. “Are they really willing to say that defending women against a male takeover of their records is ‘punching down’ and – even worse – ‘hate speech’? We’re going to find out.”
Facebook classifies “hate speech” as a “direct attack against people — rather than concepts or institutions— on the basis of what we call protected characteristics.” Those characteristics include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex, and gender identity.
This isn’t the first time The Babylon Bee and Facebook have clashed. In 2020, Facebook demonetized the Bee after the Bee posted a link to a satirical article about Democratic U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono.
The article was titled “Senator Hirono Demands ACB Be Weighed Against A Duck To See If She’s A Witch,” a reference to popular movie MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. The Babylon Bee was reportedly told that their post “incites violence.”
Facebook has not commented on the situation at this time.
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