Babylon Bee was demonetized on FB for an article that they say incites people to violence. To be specific, it incites witches to burn people at the stake. [This is not satire.]
The decision was made after Babylon Bee appealed. The author repeated a joke from a Monty Python movie with Crazy Mazie Hirono in the starring role. It was a satire of Mazie’s questions during the SCOTUS hearings.
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon asks, “In what universe does a fictional quote as part of an obvious joke constitute a genuine incitement to violence? How does context not come into play here?”
We can’t answer that. We are dealing with insane people on Facebook, and they definitely don’t have a sense of humor.
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Apparently, a joke about the witch named Mazie burning ACB at the stake is an incitement to violence. In the story, Mazie thinks Amy Coney Barrett is a witch and must be weighed against a duck.
“In addition to being a Senator, I am also quite wise in the ways of science. Everyone knows witches burn because they are made of wood,” the satirical version of Hirono says. “I think I read that somewhere. Wood floats, and so do ducks– so logically, if Amy Coney Barrett weighs as much as this duck I found in the reflection pool outside, she is a witch and must be burned.”
The article continues with an absurd Judiciary making ridiculous comments.
It’s literally just a stupid joke that wouldn’t incite anyone to violence, ever, under any circumstances.
They’re after Babylon Bee because it’s effective. Twitter suspended them ‘accidentally’ in August. The Bee’s news page, Not the Bee, is constantly attacked by the fake fact-checkers, Snopes. Snopes wants to de-platform the Bee and they were Facebook fact-checkers.
Seth Dillon Will Not Be Silenced
So after a manual review, Facebook says they stand by their decision to pull down this article and demonetize our page. I’m not kidding. They say this article “incites violence.” It’s literally a regurgitated joke from a Monty Python movie!https://t.co/U9B6tTOj6N
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) October 20, 2020
In what universe does a fictional quote as part of an obvious joke constitute a genuine incitement to violence? How does context not come into play here? They’re asking us to edit the article and not speak publicly about internal content reviews. Oops, did I just tweet this?
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) October 20, 2020
A Black Lives Matter leader said that if change doesn’t happen, they’ll “burn down this system.” That’s allowed on Facebook. You can quote it. You can link to it. But a Monty Python joke about burning a witch at the stake? That’s incitement to violence. 🤡 show.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) October 20, 2020
We will not be editing the article to get our page’s monetization reinstated. We will, however, be talking to the media about this. Send your inquiries my way: seth@babylonbee.com
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) October 20, 2020
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