In addition to banning President Donald Trump, social media companies are purging grassroots activists and organizers from their platforms as well, in what has become the widest-reaching big tech crackdown to date.
The Facebook page of the #WalkAway Campaign, a movement started by former liberal Brandon Straka to encourage Democrats to “walk away” from the party, was permanently banned by Facebook shortly before President Trump was banned by Twitter.
In a comment, Straka told Breitbart News that his page only posted testimonials of liberals who were leaving the left, and did not glorify the storming of the capitol last week.
The page had over 500,000 followers at the time of its ban and was a major hub of conservative grassroots activity.
On Twitter, Straka criticized Republicans for their silence on the issue.
Thank you so much to all our Republican senators, who claim that social media censorship is an issue you’re passionate about, who are completely dead silent as we’re being annihilated on social media.
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) January 10, 2021
“Thank you so much to all our Republican senators, who claim that social media censorship is an issue you’re passionate about, who are completely dead silent as we’re being annihilated on social media.”
According to the campaign, numerous contractors who have done paid work for the campaign also had their personal accounts removed by Facebook.
One, conservative filmmaker Luke Livingston, told Breitbart News that he lost his personal account containing posts and memories dating back to 2009, because he had been made an administrator of the #WalkAway page for one livestreaming gig in September.
Mindy Robinson, a conservative grassroots organizer who ran in the Republican primary for Nevada’s 3rd congressional district in 2020, also lost her Facebook page, which had over 220,000 members before it was banned.
“The left has gone insane,” said Robinson.
Facebook is also blacklisting any mention of the phrase “stop the steal,” the rallying slogan used by Republicans who consider the outcome of the 2020 election to be illegitimate. Ali Alexander, the activist who popularized the slogan, has been permanently banned by Twitter.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His new book, #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election, which contains exclusive interviews with sources inside Google, Facebook, and other tech companies, is currently available for purchase.
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