Lil B‘s 30-day ban from Facebook for what the social media network says was for a violation of hate speech policies. Vice‘s Motherboard site dug into the matter, and the Bay Area rapper shared a pair of posts Facebook removed and sparked the ban.
From Motherboard:
Lil B’s temporary ban comes at a time in which prominent black activists like DiDi Delgado have accused Facebook of preventing them from talking about systemic racism. Meanwhile, white people are finding ways to use veiled language to promote racist ideas without having their posts deleted or their accounts banned. In one search on Wednesday, Motherboard found several such posts.
For example, on October 2 Lil B highlighted on Facebook how people like far-right commentator Tomi Lahren use statistics regarding violence in inner cities as a dog whistle. With his post, Lil B was pointing out that black people don’t enjoy the same safety net that whiteness and supposedly “neutral” statistics provide when talking about race. (This post, which apparently wasn’t flagged for removal by Facebook, is still online.)
In the two now-removed posts Lil B shared with Motherboard, the rapper discusses the intersection of whiteness and gun violence in America after news broke that a white retiree had slaughtered 59 people in Las Vegas. In one post Lil B wrote, “White people are the only ones who really love they guns U can tell they are violent people!” and in another, “IF WHITE PEOPLE PUT DOWN THE GUNZ WE ALL BE SAFE BUT NOPE! THEY VILENT.” Both posts were deleted by Facebook but remain on Twitter. Facebook maintains that a 30-day ban requires at least five violations and Lil B should have been notified regarding all of them, but the rapper told me the company only alerted him to two.
Interesting stuff here. A spokesperson was roped into the story and reiterated Facebook’s reasoning for the ban, saying that the company’s policies on hate speech are “race-neutral” although Motherboard saw some posts that remained online that could be deemed questionable.
Check out Motherboard‘s full examination of Lil B’s Facebook ban by following this link and check out the posts in question below.
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Photo: Getty
