A Florida man sent death threats to a respected conservative organization on social media, and while the government took them seriously, Facebook moderators reportedly did not.
Facebook claims to protect its users from being targeted for their protected characteristics such as race or religion. But the American Family Association (AFA) says the social media giant took no action when its staff members were targeted with death threats on the platform. Chase Davis of Pompano Beach, Florida, will reportedly serve time in a federal prison for publicly threatening to kill employees of the socially-conservative AFA in the summer of 2019.
A press release detailing the events states that Chase Davis threatened AFA staff members by saying the following on Facebook:
“i am coming to tupelo unexpected with a group of people and we are going to kill every single person who runs your group.,”
“you are the most disgusting people in america. i have put together a group to have you pieces of [expletive] obliterated into dust. yes, i literally mean killing all of you. you people are nothing but disgusting, warn out, and old excuses of human life.”
According to the press release, AFA “reported the threats to Facebook but were told that the threat was not a policy violation.” AFA also reportedly “appealed the decision to no avail.”
AFA senior vice president Buddy Smith, said the organization “sought not vengeance but justice in the matter” and “hoped the sentence would serve as a deterrent to anyone in the future who would threaten harm to AFA or any another [sic] organization,” the press released stated.
Smith declared that his organization “supports a biblical worldview that God created us by design as male and female and that marriage is between one man and one woman.” Smith hammered his point home that the Christian worldview on sexuality is needed now more than ever:
“With all the sexual brokenness in our society and in the church today, AFA will not be intimidated into silence. We will continue to boldly proclaim the redemptive hope of the gospel and that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the only answer to the culturally controversial questions about gender and sexuality.”
U.S. Attorney William C. Lamar commented on Davis’s sentencing:
“It is important to protect free speech, but when it crosses the line and becomes threats to harm others on the basis of race, religious beliefs, political affiliations or other protected reasons, we will use federal laws to hold those individuals accountable for their actions.”
Facebook did not respond when reached for comment as of the publishing of this piece.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 or 1-650-543-4800 and demand that the platform defend conservative Christians who use the platform. If you have been censored or targeted, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
