Twitter Locks Christian Satire Site Babylon Bee Out of Their Account
By Movieguide® Contributor
Popular Christian satire website the Babylon Bee has just announced they have been locked out of their official Twitter account due to “hateful conduct.”
“We just received this notice that we’ve been locked out of our Twitter account for ‘hateful conduct,’” they said in an Instagram post. “We’re told our account will be restored in 12 hours, but the countdown won’t begin until we delete the tweet that violates the Twitter Rules.”
The tweet that Twitter deemed a violation was a reference to transgender US Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine as “Man of the Year.” However, the Babylon Bee stated that they will not be bowing to Twitter’s demands.
“We’re not deleting anything,” their post continued. “Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”
This is not the first time the Babylon Bee has been locked out of social media accounts because of guideline violations. Movieguide® previously reported on their removal from Facebook:
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.”
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.”
The site was also criticized by Facebook on a separate occasion for “inciting violence.” Movieguide® wrote:
Facebook punished The Babylon Bee over a recent satire piece titled “Senator Hirono Demands ACB Be Weighed Against A Duck To See If She Is A Witch.”
The Christian satire site’s title was drawn from a joke in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.
The social media giant claimed the article “incited violence” when it satirized Hawaiian Senator Mazie Hirono’s questions to Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
The article in question quips that Hirono suspects Barrett is “a practitioner of the dark arts” because the Chicago judge showed “perfect recall and no notes.”
The article also pulls directly from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and jokes:
“In addition to being a Senator, I am also quite wise in the ways of science,” the satirical quote reads. “Everyone knows witches burn because they are made of wood. I think I read that somewhere. Wood floats, and so do ducks — so logically, if Amy Coney Barrett weighs as much as this duck I found in the reflection pool outside, she is a witch and must be burned.”
Facebook demonetized the website’s page and ordered The Babylon Bee to revise the article. The social network also attempted to gag the site’s creator by requesting he not speak publicly about the review.
“In what universe does a fictional quote as part of an obvious joke constitute a genuine incitement to violence?” Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said on Twitter. “How does context not come into play here? They’re asking us to edit the article and not speak publicly about internal content reviews. Oops, did I just tweet this?”
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