Oh, the poor fascist baby...
Laura Loomer, the former protégé of Project Veritas' James O'Keefe, and proud alt-right muckraker has been banned by Facebook for all the horribly harmful lies and crap she puts out into social media. And she's a might bit upset by that banning.
Boo-freaking-hoo. If there was anyone who did not deserve a platform, it is Loomer.
Facebook just announced the removal of a notable cross-section of extremists from social networks Facebook and Instagram, including neo-Nazi sympathizer Milo Yiannopoulos, anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer, far-right YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (again), and white supremacist Paul Nehlen, a failed Republican congressional candidate, while also removing Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan for his record of anti-Semitic rhetoric. This move by Facebook is a step in the right direction, opening doors to making its platforms safer and inspiring some optimism that the tech company might be capable of taking responsibility for the ways its platforms have empowered extremists. But it is clear that there is more to do.
A long record of hate
The newly banned figures owed their influence to the massive reach they were allowed to cultivate through Facebook and Instagram, using their accounts to post content that dehumanized entire communities, promoted hateful conspiracy theories, and radicalized audiences -- all while they profited from directing people to their own websites.
After being banned from most other social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook itself, Jones found a safe haven on Instagram, where he had continued to post Infowars content that featured hate speech, promoted conspiracy theories, and amplified other extremists.
Similarly, Laura Loomer used her private Instagram account to post content that violated the platform’s hate speech and bullying policies, consistently spewing dehumanizing anti-Muslim rhetoric.
We've seen over and over the violence and death caused at the hands of conservative white men, their hatred fed into by the likes of these extremists like Loomer, whose irresponsible hate and bigotry knows no bounds.
But let us save the tiniest of tears for Laura Loomer, whose life is ruined by not being able to post on Facebook.
Maybe we could take up a GoFundMe to send her to parts of the world where not only do they not worry about Facebook, but they worry about all the violence and death created by our foreign interference to help her get some perspective.
(h/t Chris Evans on Twitter)
