US: Facebook bans journalist for criticising Donald Trump's fans

The account of a US-based journalist was banned by Facebook for posting critical comments about supporters of Donald Trump.

New York, Dec 31: In a latest incident of censorship, Facebook on Friday temporarily restricted journalist Kevin Sessums's account, after he called US President-elect Donald Trump's supporters "a nasty fascistic lot" in a post.

Known for his two best-selling memoirs, Sessums said that he shared a Facebook post from ABC News' political analyst Matthew Dowd that read: "In the last few hours I have been called by lovely 'christian' Trump fans: a jew, faggot, retard. To set record straight: divorced Catholic."

Sessums was later notified by Facebook that the post violated the company's "community standards" and was barred from posting for 24 hours.

It was only after the Guardian contacted Facebook that they reviewed and restored the post of the journalist.

"We are very sorry about this mistake," the Guardian quoted a spokesman of Facebook.

"The post was removed in error and restored as soon as we were able to investigate. Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong," he added.

"It is chilling. It is arbitrary censorship. I was like, 'Wait a minute, do I have to be careful about what I say about Trump now?'" Sessums said.

Earlier this year, Facebook banned a post that contained the 'Napalm Girl' photograph on the grounds that it reflected indecency and suspended the journalist who had posted it.

The accounts of Palestinian journalists were also briefly blocked, which the Facebook called an innocent mistake.

IANS