This week, Jews are celebrating Passover and Christians are preparing to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday. But unfortunately, Jewish and Christian social media users have to face biased censorship of their religious content online.
MRC’s CensorTrack database reveals chilling censorship patterns. Meta has a particularly disturbing record of censoring Christian and Jewish content, including about Resurrection Day (Easter) and Christmas. X has a track record of suppressing Bible verses, and TikTok has displayed apparent anti-Semitic bias. Churches, media figures and other users on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok have all been accused of violating platform rules by sharing announcements, quotes, and comments about their faith.
Below are six of the worst areas of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish censorship online over the last two years, as recorded in MRC’s exclusive CensorTrack database.
Instagram fact checked critiques of White House’s strictly non-religious Easter celebration. The Family Research Council (FRC) posted about the Biden administration's 2024 celebration of Easter on Meta platform Instagram, “President Joe Biden’s most impactful legacy might be his alteration of America’s spiritual life. Late last week, the Biden administration prohibited children from expressing their Christian faith while redesignating Easter Sunday as the 'Transgender Day of Visibility.' Biden literally banished Christianity from a children’s contest celebrating its most joyful holiday while exalting a radical and harmful ideology in its place.'” Instagram’s fact check label on the post linked out to a FactCheck.org piece alleging the post was “Missing Context,” and an AFP Fact Check piece rating the post “Partly False.”
Meta platforms disabled a major Israeli news outlet’s page and removed an actor’s anti-Hamas posts. Arutz Sheva reported on Nov. 10, 2024 that its Facebook page with over 151,000 followers had been disabled by the Meta platform, allegedly because “It looks like you shared or sent something that attacks a person, or group of people, based on who they are.” The outlet had received complaints about its reporting on Israel Defense Forces eliminating a Hamas terrorist and senior Hezbollah official Nabil Qaouk. Arutz Sheva speculated that the complaints “may have stemmed from anti-Israel and antisemitic reporting campaigns against Israeli and Jewish pages.” Similarly, in 2023, actor Nate Buzolic argued Meta’s Instagram (and TikTok) likely censored his posts about Hamas atrocities because of a mass reporting campaign.
X suppressed Bible verses. On March 12, X user Magnus X used a Biblical reference (Luke 17:2) to condemn sexualization of children, possibly in response to a drag show for children: “@AntiWokeMemes ‘we should accept that pedophilia is a sexual preference.' Oh hell no! Better to tie a milestone around your neck and cast yourself into the ocean rather than harm a child.” X suspended the account, though it was not clear why. In March 2024, X censored the account The Paleo Granny for sharing the same verse condemning the harming of children. Also in March 2024, X temporarily suspended user Kron for quoting Luke 17:2, accusing him of violating the platform rules against “violent speech.”
Back in 2023, talk show host Michael Knowles reacted to a Trans Day of Vengeance post on Twitter (X) by saying, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written [Deut.32:35], 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ https://t.co/M5jvh2fIYu” Twitter locked his account until he deleted the post, accusing him of breaking platform rules against “violent speech.”
Communist Chinese government-tied TikTok censored a video of a Holocaust survivor. TikTok censored X user @ashsingh1221 for responding to a Trump War Room post with a video that included a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor saying Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris should apologize for comparing President Donald Trump to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The censorship consisted of TikTok disabling the audio of the video. TikTok subsequently rejected an appeal of the censorship, insisting “your sound violates our Community Guidelines.” TikTok previously bragged about removing over 500,000 videos related to the Hamas-Israel conflict in 2023.
Facebook suppresses churches for sharing information on events and services. Facebook has a bad history of censoring Christian content as “spam.” In May 2024, King’s Church in Washington, D.C. posted a “Weekend Review” that included a Bible verse (1 Corinthians 2:9) and pictures of its “Baptism Sunday.” Facebook removed the post, claiming it was “spam.” Even more recently, in December 2024, Facebook deleted a post it claimed was “spam” from Grace Fellowship Church. But the post simply featured GraceSquad Children's Ministry’s Christmas musical “Straight Outta Bethlehem.” Facebook also deleted a post about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling it “spam.”
Flashback: 7 of the Worst Times Big Tech Censored Christian and Jewish Content
Instagram targeted testimony from a Jewish user defending against Nazi accusations. Instagram temporarily removed a video posted by political commentator Debra Lea regarding Trump’s October 2024 Madison Square Garden rally. “The MSM is calling Trump's rally a 'Nazi rally' and it couldn't be further from the truth. Here is the TRUTH from an American Jew who was there from start to finish. #stopthelies #JewsForTrump #Trump2024,” the post read. Instagram claimed it “attacks a person, or group of people, based on who they are.”
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
