An article from the New York Post, which initially exposed questionable financial actions at the nonprofit organization Black Lives Matter, faced suppression on Facebook recently. This occurred despite the platform’s commitments to reduce censorship, as noted by the Post.
Currently, BLM is under investigation by the Department of Justice for potential misuse of donations by its leaders, which adds another layer to the situation.
The Post had first reported on BLM’s significant real estate acquisitions in April 2021. Patrice Cullors, one of the group’s co-founders and a self-described Marxist, had spent $3.2 million on four luxury homes across Georgia and California.
Following the resurgence of interest due to the DOJ investigation, users who tried to share the original Post article were met with a message indicating that sharing was disabled because it supposedly violated community standards.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, acknowledged the issue on Friday morning and stated around 5:30 p.m. ET that the problem was resolved, allowing users to share the link again.
This isn’t the first instance of Facebook limiting The Post’s reports. A similar interruption occurred shortly after the initial publication in 2021, which prevented users from sharing related links.
Moreover, the platform previously censored articles concerning Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020, favoring the Biden administration, according to a House Judiciary Committee report.
In the context of the original laptop story, the FBI had alerted tech firms about potential document leaks from Russian sources, prompting internal discussions at Facebook about how to handle the story relating to the Biden-Harris campaign.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, admitted in a letter to the committee that there had been pressures from the Biden administration to censor content in 2021, including stories about the laptop and COVID-19, expressing regret over not being transparent about it.
Yet, Facebook is again obscuring the Post’s reporting on BLM. The piece notes some details about Cullors’ opulent home purchases, like a ranch in Georgia with a runway and another property in Topanga Canyon for $1.4 million, near Malibu. Records indicate that Cullors has since sold these homes.
At the time of her purchases, Cullors stated that BLM funds were not used, although she resigned a month after the article’s release.
Prominent figures like Meta co-founder Dustin Moskowitz and former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey had previously contributed substantial amounts towards initiatives related to Cullors after her advocacy for net neutrality. Records show that Cullors began her lobbying efforts back in 2014, securing over $5.5 million from nonprofits affiliated with Moskowitz.
Post the fallout from George Floyd’s death in 2020, BLM received more than $90 million in donations, fueled by corporations and progressive donors.
While Cullors garnered significant attention during protests in 2013 against George Zimmerman’s acquittal, she did not respond to requests for comments on this recent situation.
