Facebook sparked anger as user accounts and a publisher were banned temporarily this week. It’s unclear the reasoning, as of Tuesday morning.
The Western Journal denounced Facebook’s ban as the publisher and its owner Patrick Brown were banned on Monday without warning.
IJR employees have also appeared to be affected by this disabling of accounts, including one staffer’s Facebook and Instagram account being disabled in what appeared out of nowhere on Monday. The staffer has since been able to gain re-entry to the Facebook account.
Per The Western Journal, Brown had not posted regularly to his personal account but did post to the publisher’s main Facebook page, along with several other affiliated pages.
“When the ban went into effect, key publishing functions for The Western Journal tied to Brown’s account were instantly deactivated,” the outlet wrote.
The ban seemed to be lifted roughly four hours later and there was not an explanation from Facebook, as of Monday.
“This is not the only unexplained ban of a conservative account to take place only weeks before Election Day,” the outlet wrote.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn also saw his account permanently disabled without warning on Thursday. Flynn is a contributor for The Western Journal. In addition, other X users have claimed to have had their accounts disabled.
“Facebook, without warning, and just prior to the most historically consequential presidential election in U.S. History, blatantly and intentionally censored me from their platform,” Flynn told the outlet. “This is election interference of the highest form and absolutely demonstrates once again the lies spewed by the totalitarian regime running FB of their strong desire to keep President Donald J. Trump from serving as our 47th President.”
He added, “This behavior cannot stand in a free, open and transparent society where our freedom of speech is at severe risk and the FB tyrants prove once again how they are anti-free speech and how they continue to meddle in US elections.”
