Good day all. A few days ago, people started noticing a new pop up on Faceplant. The pop up, and there are two versions, asked “Are you concerned that someone you know is an extremist?” The other pop up stated that You may have been exposed to extremist content You can get support from experts who have helped people escape extremism.”
Needless to say, many people who saw these went “What the Fu**??!?” and started trying to figure out if this was some sort of a joke. Sadly, it isn’t. Faceplant is once again doing something stupid. Here are the details from the New York Post:
An eyebrow-raising new Facebook feature warns users when they might have been exposed to extremist content or if they know someone who is becoming an extremist — prompting concerns it may target conservative voices and stifle free speech. Screenshots of the anti-extremism alerts circulated Thursday on social media.
One of the prompts asks users, “Are you concerned that someone you know is becoming an extremist?”
“We care about preventing extremism on Facebook,” the prompt goes on. “Others in your situation have received confidential support.”
A second alert read, “You may have been exposed to harmful extremist content recently.” “Violent groups try to manipulate your anger and disappointment. You can take action now to protect yourself and others,” it continues.
The alerts, when you saw and clicked on them took you to some sort of support page. I haven’t seen one yet, but I know people who have. Facebook also confirmed that they were testing this.
Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, confirmed that the company is testing the prompts as part of a wider approach to radicalization prevention.
“This test is part of our larger work to assess ways to provide resources and support to people on Facebook who may have engaged with or were exposed to extremist content, or may know someone who is at risk,” Stone said.
And who does Faceplant think might be at risk? Generally, people who think for themselves, people who support the Constitution. People who wear MAGA hats. People who support President Trump. You know. People who might be considered conservatives.
However, several conservative figures quickly criticized the initiative, saying it could suppress free speech and target right-leaning perspectives.
Nick Freitas, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, tweeted an image of one of the alerts and said, “Yes…actually I have a real concern that some leftist technocrats are creating an Orwellian environment where people are being arbitrarily silenced or banned for saying something the ‘thought police’ doesn’t like.”
Yes, they are. This has been going on for easily a year now and has extended to knocking competitor platforms offline, (Parler), because they wouldn’t censor content that was, in the opinion of Big Tech, wrongthink. There are a list of people commenting on the latest stupid idea from Zuckworld, all of them saying this is Orwellian garbage. For instance,
Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative Malaysian commentator who’s become known for weighing in on US politics, raised concerns, too.
“Nice to see Facebook going full Stasi/NKVD. Learning from the former East Germans who now advise leftist ‘anti-extremist’ organizations,” he wrote on Twitter.
As to wheter or not Facplant is listening, the people they have been targeting on the platform have done what they usually do when the Left tries to shame them. They took it and ran with it, claiming full ownership. The last time this happened was when Felonia von Pantsuit referred to all the Trump supporters as “Deplorables. Within a day, the first memes started coming out from the targeted group proudly claiming the mantel of “Deplorable.”
The same thing is now happening on Faceplant as the people they call extremists are taking ownership of the accusation and basically telling Faceplant to go do something to themselves that is anatomically impossible. In other words, the perpetually butt hurt assumed that if they made accusations and hurtful insults, the Conservatives would tuck their tail between their legs and surrender. Fat chance.
The memes are flying fast and furious, all of them claiming to be from deplorable extremists. There are many people on my “Friends” list who are asking why they aren’t seeing one of these popups when they hit our faceplant page. I really don’t know. It saddens me that they don’t consider me to be an extremist.
Well, maybe next time they come up with something really stupid.
Thatisall
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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~The Angry Webmaster~
