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Facebook says it ‘mistakenly’ suspended hundreds of activists’ accounts
Sep 24, 2020
Facebook suspended the accounts of more than 200 people on September 19th who were connected to an event protesting the construction of the contested Coastal GasLink pipeline. The suspension shows how vulnerable activists are to the actions of social media platforms in the midst of a pandemic, when protesting in person comes with more risk than usual.
Indigenous activists have opposed the pipeline’s construction, which would cut through the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s territory if built. The suspensions curbed one of the few outlets left on which activists can protest while socially distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It left some scrambling to communicate without Facebook messenger, and it has Wet’suwet’en activists rethinking how effectively they can push back against pipeline developers over social media.
Wet’suwet’en activists and supporters say they might move future actions away from Facebook now that they’ve been spooked. They’re concerned about being surveilled on Facebook for their activism and worry about Facebook suspending accounts again.
In May, Wet’suwet’en activists, Greenpeace, and other environmental and Indigenous groups hosted a Facebook event calling on pipeline opponents to bombard the pipeline’s majority funder, a company called KKR & Co Inc., with calls and emails. They had a near identical event planned for September 21st. Then on September 19th, every person with administrative access to the 15 Facebook pages that co-hosted the event received notices that their accounts would be suspended for up to three days.
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