Warning: This story contains depictions of graphic violence directed at law enforcement and may be upsetting to some readers.
MENLO PARK, CA – Does Facebook condone violence against the law enforcement community? We will let you, the reader, decide.
At Law Enforcement Today, we are here to support the LEO community in whatever ways we can. But we also strive to call people out on their blatant disregard for the lives and safety of the men and women who comprise the Thin Blue Line.
What we do know, is that the Black Panther Party Recruitment Department is apparently alive and well on Facebook.
A portrait posted on their recruiting page depicts a police officer, hands tied behind his back, getting his throat slit with a knife by a man covered in all black clothing.
Many of the comments that accompany the post are equally as vile. While it has been reported for violation of Community Standards, Facebook responded by letting those who reported it know that it is apparently not a violation.
They went so far as to say that it was up to the user to follow steps to avoid seeing content like this in the future. One of those Facebook users, Chris Blanco, posted his response to the social media platform’s answer.
One can certainly understand the frustration shown in his response back to Facebook (more on this later).
According to Facebook’s own words in the Community Standards section, the following content is not allowed on Facebook and will be removed:
“Any non-state actor that:
“Engages in, advocates, or lends substantial support to purposive and planned acts of violence, which causes or attempts to cause death, injury or serious harm to civilians, or any other person not taking direct part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, and/or significant damage to property linked to death, serious injury or serious harm to civilians with the intent to coerce, intimidate and/or influence a civilian population, government, or international organization in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim.”
“A hate organization is defined as:
Still not a violation?
Ironically, they say that they work with law enforcement. Does this coordination cease to exist when the negative content is directed at cops?
Just in these paragraphs, written by Facebook, we see six different areas that this post violates.
Many who condone this type of post and rhetoric might point to the events surrounding to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis as a reason why Facebook should leave the post online.
But, we all know that calling for, and the commission of, mass violence against the law enforcement community is not the answer. This point is not lost on Mr. Blanco.
So, why should he be so upset by Facebook’s response?
To start, the picture posted in the BPP Recruitment Department page is disgusting and mortifying. It violates numerous sections of the Community Standards section of Facebook.
But when you weigh what Facebook allows to stay with what it decides to censor, it becomes mind-boggling.
4 months ago, Facebook unpublished and then completely deleted my business page without giving any reason as to why….
Posted by Chris Blanco on Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Blanco posted the above about a week ago, concerning his business, Freedom Hard. In his post, he asks Facebook a simple question:
“Why is it that I can see Facebook pages and content that support riots, abuse of animals, messages supporting the killing of cops and crimes of all sorts with millions of views but a brand that stands for patriotism and giving back to communities continues to be shut down by the Facebook community standards team?”
Excellent question, Chris.
How does Facebook condone the depiction of murdering cops and an affiliation with a domestic organization, while simultaneously shutting people down that have a conservative ideology and discuss it in public?
How much more of this alleged censorship will be tolerated?
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