Facebook punished a Pro-Life post by the Texas GOP because it supposedly was considered “clickbait.” Republicans are not convinced.
The Texas GOP Caucus on March 17 Sunday posted on Facebook about the “Texas Born Alive Infant Protection Act.” Facebook flagged the posts to reduce their reach, and alerted the caucus that “Your ad’s text (or text in image) was flagged because it could be a negative experience.” When Dallas News reached them for comment, a spokesman from the social media platform said that the company flagged the material because “we have increased our efforts to reduce what we call clickbait or engagement bait.”
Sen. Paul Bettencourt was not convinced, saying that a previous video the caucus shared on March 6 had not been flagged for using similar language. He told Dallas News via text that Big Tech has double-standards. “The real problem with Facebook rules is that they are inconsistently applied” he said, explaining that “Thus, within a week, a Republican caucus post on SB 2, the Property Tax Relief Act, using 'share' in a post isn't labeled a ‘negative experience’ and restricted by Facebook, but the ‘The Texas Born Alive Act,’ SB 23 is.”
He added that "Facebook claims these rules changed in the fall, yet differences occurred just within a week. At best it is a puzzlement at worst it is censorship."
The bill at the heart of this controversy would require doctors to give “appropriate medical treatment” to any child who has survived an abortion.
The original Facebook post said “Texas Senate Republicans do not want a repeat of what happened in New York and Virginia. Which is why passing SB 23: Texas Born-Alive Infant Protection Act is of the utmost importance.
All of the Republican female Senators are joint authors on this bill: Kolkhorst, Buckingham, Campbell, Huffman, Nelson, and Paxton, and Senators Bettencourt and Perry are co-authors.
Senator Kolkhorst said it best, ‘Any baby born in Texas is going to be respected as a human being. Where Washington D.C. has been unclear, we're going to be very clear. Texans stand united for life.’
Share if you care about protecting those who cannot protect themselves!!!”
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When this post was flagged as spam this prompted caucus chairman Sen. Bettencourt to ask via Twitter “Why did @facebook flag and limit this pro-life post/picture for possibly causing a "negative experience"?!? There is absolutely nothing distasteful about this post!”
Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels retwteeted his Bettencourt, saying "I have some questions for @facebook for flagging this pro-life post. Exactly when did it become offensive to value human life? If facebook wants to start demanding safe spaces, how about we start with inside the womb. #FreeSpeech #ProLife #TexansValueLife."
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