Meta may finally permit free speech on social issues on its platforms after years of suppressing Facebook and Instagram users who push back against gender ideology.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta opened up two free speech cases on Facebook and Instagram to public comment on Aug. 29. Meta explained that the platform had chosen not to censor two popular videos shared on both social media platforms, despite a flurry of users demanding the two separate videos be censored. Both of these cases were repeatedly reported to Meta as “Hate Speech” or “Bullying and Harassment,” to no avail. Whether the Meta Oversight Board will also allow free speech remains to be seen. This decision is pending.
The Facebook video shows a woman challenging a “transgender” woman—also known as a biological male—as he tries to enter a women’s restroom. The Instagram post contains footage of spectators booing a “transgender girl”—also known as a biological male—as he wins a track race. In its description of these events, Meta made the scientifically and grammatically inaccurate choice to refer to one of the biological males as “they” rather than he and the other biological male as “them” rather than him.
Previously, Meta would censor similar posts on transgenderism across its platforms. MRC Free Speech America's exclusive CensorTrack recorded 57 cases from September 2020 through August 2024.
Related: Meta Oversight Board Greenlights Anti-Semitic, Genocidal Phrase, But Misgendering…Not So Much
For example, in 2022 Facebook censored an article by the satirical website The Babylon Bee headlined, “Trans Woman Breaks Jeopardy Record, Proving Once And For All That Men Are Smarter Than Women,” calling the post “hate speech.” Notably, this censorship occurred seven weeks after the content was posted.
Later that year, Facebook removed a post by Libs of TikTok, an account created by Chaya Raichik to expose radical gender activists, for merely alluding to the absurdity of gender theory. "So, what did I miss? Were any new genders invented while I was away?" Raichik wrote on Facebook.
Facebook also engaged in election interference, refusing to allow a paid political advertisement against Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) and President Joe Biden. The conservative PAC American Principles Project’s (APP PAC) was blocked from placing a $4 million ad exposing the absurdity of allowing boys in girls’ sports.
Instagram even silenced famous detransitioner Chloe Cole, suspending her account in August 2024 before later restoring it. Facebook acted against another detransitioner, Kellie King, a woman who underwent a transition surgery and now calls herself Scott Newgent, removing posts she made exposing the horror of “transing” kids.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Meta here and tell them to that they did the right thing leaving these posts up on their platforms, but that they must continue to allow free speech on this issue rather than reverting to their old habits. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
