Breaking My Silence On The FEC Facebook Complaint ~ Facebook is a “Media Entity”

Breaking My Silence On The FEC Facebook Complaint. iStock-1186520428
Breaking My Silence On The FEC Facebook Complaint ~ Facebook is a “Media Entity” iStock-1186520428

WASHINGTON, D.C.-(Ammoland.com)- During the 2020 Presidential election cycle, I noticed that Facebook fact-checkers were marking truthful articles about Kamala Harris’s stance on the Second Amendment as false!?

Two articles, in particular, caught my attention. One-piece was from Cam Edwards that ran in Bearing Arms. The other article was written by Gun Owners of America’s (GOA) Texas Director Rachel Malone and ran in the Houston Courant. The gist of both was that Harris doesn’t believe that American individuals have the right to bear arms. Both reports cited an Amicus brief filed in the landmark Heller case written and signed by the Vice-Presidential candidate.

In the Amicus brief, written in Harris’s time as the California Attorney General, she argued that the individual does not have the right to bear arms. Malone and Edwards both used this Amicus brief as a basis for their stories. When people shared these stories on Facebook, the mega platform’s non-U.S.-based truth-checkers “fact-checked” both articles as “false.”

Facebook placed a large overlay on top of the articles that redirected readers to the fact-checkers own website. In this case, the fact-checker was the Agence France-Presse (AFP). The AFP is a French Government-funded news agency. The AFP is run differently from organizations like PBS or NPR. While their governments fund all three, Both PBS and NRP are independent of their governments. In the case of the AFP, French government officials sit on its board and have direct control over how the AFP makes decisions.

I worked at Facebook in the past. I walked away from the Social Media giant because of how far the company drifted to the left of the political spectrum. Facebook started as a free speech platform but changed over the years that I was employed there. I just couldn’t be a part of what it became, so I walked away, but my time there gave me an insight into how things worked. I knew a program and not a human had a robot hand in the flagging.

I decided to experiment to see what in these articles triggered the “false” flag. I posted the original Amicus brief with zero comments. It was just a link to the official brief by itself. Immediately Facebook marked it as “false.” So, after Facebook talked about how it was snuffing out foreign election interference, it turned over the keys to the castle to the French Government.

I used my internal contacts at Facebook to open an “Oops Report.” An Oops Report is an internal ticket that employees use when something is wrong. I also reached out to the tech giant’s press department to get a comment on what I found.

Instead of replying to me, the company deleted my FB account and banned me for life, from the platform.

Facebook did not give me an explanation for the ban. They just deleted my account and informed me that I was no longer welcome on the platform. My internal contacts opened another Oops Report to get my account restored. It was denied and then escalated to the highest levels possible. The answer was simple: Facebook would not fix my account, and I caught a lifetime ban.

I used Facebook for two reasons. The first is to keep in contact with my relatives in Europe. For those that don’t know, I am married to an Italian, and most of my wife’s family lives in Sicily. The second reason is that it is where I shared my articles. I had a vibrant community of pro-gun supporters. Both were now gone. Eventually, Facebook would remove the false flag from the reports but refused to lift the personal ban.

In my official compacity as the Virginia State Director of GOA, I spoke to Rob Olson of the Olson law firm about what happened. Rob Olson is the lead attorney for GOA and the lawyer who argued the bump stock case in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He suggested that I file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Facebook appeared to be protecting the Biden/Harris campaign. This monitoring and censoring of negative posts about the Biden Campaign appeared to be an unreported in-kind donation. I was interested, but I couldn’t afford all the legal fees.

GOA saw that Facebook was moving against pro-gun reporters and decided to fund the complaint. For months the complaint sat without a response but the Olson law firm was persistent about getting an answer. Recently when we got word that the FEC ruled against our complaint, and now we have the reason we lost in the official and final response found here “Federal Election Commission (FEC) MUR 7812 Response Letter to Complainant Jon Crump Re SOR” and embedded below.

Trump appointee, and Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioner Sean Cooksey, determined that Facebook was exempt from campaign finance laws because he believes that Facebook is a “media entity” much like AmmoLand News or the New York Times.

To me, this determination doesn’t make sense. Facebook is a company that steadfastly maintains that it is NOT a media entity and it enjoys special protection under “47 U.S. Code § 230 protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material” and just like Google, it doesn’t produce content.

Funny how Facebook did not dispute this designation as a media entity when it is convenient and but then continues to hide behind 230 protections. But not all is lost. This complaint let them know that some people and organizations are willing to fight back against the Silicon Valley giants.

It will be interesting to see how Facebook Inc declares its entity status going forward in light of this new “Media” determination by the U.S Federal Election Commission?

I want to thank GOA for its financial and motivational support. I also want to thank AmmoLand News for its continued support. And lastly, I want to thank my attorneys, Rob and Bill Olson, and the rest of their legal team.

We can and will win. I believe in death by 1000 paper cuts. I will be ever vigilant, ever free, and I will keep in the fight.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) MUR 7812 Response Letter to Complainant Jon Crump Re SOR


See Related:

MUR 7812 Closing Letter to Complainant Jon Crump

FEC MUR 7812 Closing Letter to Complainant Robert Olson


About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.

John Crump

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Arizona

Now that the federal elections committee designated flakebook as a media entity, it should be easy to force the government to remove section 230 protections. Flakebook cannot be a media company and retain section 230, and the government clearly stated it is a media company.

Pa John

“The definition of fascism is ‘The marriage of corporation and state.’ ” – Benito Mussolini ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini ) The one power the left cannot fight fairly is the power of free enterprise. (Without free markets there are no free people.) Those who would call themselves patriots must responsibly USE the power of free choice that our remaining free markets make possible, or risk losing that power of free choice forever to the “marriage-of-corporation-and-state” fascism that is attempting to take everything over today. I.E. – If you are still using Facebook / Twitter / Google, you ARE part of the problem… Read more »

Russn8r

Good. But DuckDuckGo is run by commie-Dem Biden-Hillary fans. Per FEC reports 100% of officer donations go to Dems. And they censor results.

Better results & a lot less censorship on the German search engine metager.org, which is also private, even though Germany’s becoming tyrannical again.

Sad how many conservatives insist on paying Amazon, Amazon Prime, Netflix & other commie-lib companies despite many competitive alternatives.

Last edited 3 years ago by Russn8r
BaerArms

and people who down voted this hasnt seen the leak showing their hiring practices

JSNMGC

When a business acts in a tyrannical way, for example to censor you or spy on you, you can opt out.

When local “non-civilian” enforcers are intent on violating your rights, for example by joining a lucrative federal “gun crime task force,” your options are much more limited. Simply opting out of the enterprise is not an option – in fact, you are required to pay those who oppress you.

Be careful who you “support.”

Last edited 3 years ago by JSNMGC
Russn8r

“When a business acts in a tyrannical way, for example to censor you or spy on you, you can opt out.”

Not much of a choice if it’s a “private” monopoly or conspiratorial oligopoly run by tyrants, like Apple, Facebook, Twitter, list growing.

BTW, another Vichy Republican Trump appointee, and Trump did NOTHING about it.

Last edited 3 years ago by Russn8r
JSNMGC

People can opt out of all of those products. In some cases, there may not be much of an alternative (unfortunately), but people can conclude they really don’t need the product/service and just go without. When the BATFE, FBI, and U.S. Marshals service visits the local rural sheriff’s office and makes a pitch to the sheriff and the deputies (Bubba and his friends) that they can earn a lot of money by joining a “gun crime task force,” the options available to the local dentist are limited. The dentist has paid Bubba and his friends’ salaries for years. When he… Read more »

Last edited 3 years ago by JSNMGC
Russn8r

Yes. I understand you can opt out of a monopoly…into nothing. That’s why the need to be broken up, sued or prosecuted.

JSNMGC

I have nothing but contempt for those companies and hope the government stands out of the way of competition.

To the extent any of them have classifed themselves as nothing but “platforms” and not editorial services and therefore are not subject to liability, they could have been prosecuted in 2017 for violating their self-classification (and perhaps some other violations as well). Where were all the people who say they are fighting for our rights?

Last edited 3 years ago by JSNMGC
Russn8r

Where was Trump? “Watched closely” as millions of conservatives were jacklisted, did NOTHING until HE was censored – too late.

Last edited 3 years ago by Russn8r
hippybiker

I got a 30 day suspension for debunking “Slippers Biden’s” BS about Americans ability to own Cannons in Colonial times and today! It matter no one iota that I quoted historical facts and the GCA of 1968 or, the fact that reenactment groups use replica Cannons all the time.
Clearly, the scum at FB Are using foreign AI and Algorithms to fact check!

Henry Bowman

John, you need to set up an account at GAB.com and have everyone you know switch to it. It’s been around for several years now and it’s hardened against deplatforming (like what happened to Parler). Gab is 1000% free speech and operates on the donations & subscriptions of its users.

Arny

Germany will be banning it soon enough. And the rest are sure to follow suit. Germany is trying to force GAB to ban Germans from using the platform through legal means. But as we know German law does not apply to Americans. He just can’t travel there. This was the gist I took from his email. lol

Henry Bowman

Were he not such a hardcore Christian, I’d characterize his telling Germany to go pound sand as a ‘big middle finger’. I’d ROFL if he airmailed a mallet to them with instructions!

Jaque

Try getting the Communist DOJ to lift a finger.

I URGE EVERYONE TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST THROUGHLY. ALL OF IT.

Secure Freedom Radio Podcast

With Robert Spencer and Gordon Chang

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL3NlY3VyZWZyZWVkb21yYWRpby9mZWVkLnhtbA%3D%3D&episode=c2VjdXJlZnJlZWRvbXJhZGlvLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2ZjYThiN2Q4LTQ3ZjktMzMzYi04YWMyLTExYThlYTgwYTM3ZA%3D%3D

Last edited 3 years ago by Jaque
HLB

Human nature spans the entire business and political world. That human nature is to put down what you don’t like and is not confined to law or policy or rule. Law and policy and rule are changed to accommodate those end desires. Do not confine yourself to these limited areas when battling these people. Don’t play their game since they define the rules. Play your own game. I personally have issued a lifetime ban on Facebook as of a year ago. In that time period I notice that ticker symbol FB has risen from a value of around $250 a… Read more »