Facebook blocked Trump's social media director because they thought he was a bot
Trump White House social media director Dan Scavino got a personal apology from Facebook, after some features on his account were blocked for a few hours on Monday. The social media firm says its automated systems identified his activity as likely being that of a bot.
On Monday, Scavino posted on Facebook that his ability to reply to comments on the platform had been blocked, which was, of course, an outrage and injustice like none anyone has ever known in the history of mankind, truly.
"AMAZING. WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME from replying to comments followers have left me - on my own Facebook Page!!?? People have the right to know. Why are you silencing me???," Scavino wrote, with righteous outrage.
Donald Trump, of course, tweeted about it the following day.
Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats. But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2019
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted he'd be "looking into" the issue with Scavino's account, which by now has been restored, with aforementioned apology.
I will be looking into this! #StopTheBias https://t.co/ZTWQolvmdM
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2019
Later in the day, during a joint press conference with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, he returned to the issue, saying, "There's discrimination, there's big discrimination," and adding, "Something's happening with those groups of folks that are running Facebook, and Google, and Twitter, and I do think we have to get to the bottom of it."
As in Scavino's case, such complaints about bias have often been found to stem from legitimate violations of the platforms' rules or mistakes by the platforms or both, rather than actual discrimination against conservatives.
.@Facebook, in statement, says it temporarily blocked @Scavino45 because it thought he was a bot. pic.twitter.com/HZoDeNpHwM
- Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) March 19, 2019