Fox News Radio Personality Todd Starnes Accuses Facebook of Censorship

Fox News radio personality Todd Starnes accused Facebook of censorship on July 1, saying he was banned from the website for 12 hours because of a post that read:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-censorship-warning-sign-illustration-design-image26533865“I’m about as politically incorrect as you can get. I’m wearing an NRA ball cap, eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich, reading a Paula Deen cookbook and sipping a 20-ounce sweet tea while sitting in my Cracker Barrel rocking chair with the Gaither Vocal Band singing ‘Jesus Saves’ on the stereo and a Gideon’s Bible in my pocket. Yes sir, I’m politically incorrect and happy as a June bug.”

Starnes took to Fox News on Monday to address the issue, accusing Facebook of censoring conservatives while allowing liberals to voice their thoughts freely. The site has recently come under intense fire for offensive content on its pages, and their decision to take down Starnes’ page doubtlessly stemmed from his use of several hot-button keywords and topics like Paula Deen and the NRA. However, Facebook did apologize for the censorship.

“As our team processes hundreds of thousands of reports each week, we occasionally make a mistake. In this case, we mistakenly removed content from the Todd Starnes Page, and worked to rectify the mistake as soon as we were notified,” Facebook’s said in a statement.

Given the relatively clean nature of Starnes’ post, it’s likely that Facebook made a mistake in censoring it. The accusations of conspiracy may be a bit overblown, however. Facebook receives complaints from groups that cross virtually every racial, political and gender barrier.