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Facebook on Sunday removed the prominent health and conspiracy site Natural News from its platform and banned its incendiary founder from posting content.
In an email to Ars, a spokesperson for Facebook confirmed the removal and said only that it was over “violating our policies against spam.” Under those policies, Facebook “do[es] not allow people to use misleading or inaccurate information to collect likes, followers, or shares.” More specifically, it prohibits sites that “encourage likes, shares, or clicks under false pretenses,” and those that “artificially increase distribution for financial gain,” among other things.
Facebook’s decision comes just a day after The Daily Beast published a report into the wild, far-right conspiracy theories that have become staples on Natural News.
The Beast’s article noted that Natural News began as an alternative health site that railed against evidence-based medicine and touted organic foods, unproven “natural” remedies, and pseudoscience such as homeopathy—all while hawking supplements. Over the years, it has morphed into a conspiracy-laden smorgasbord of far-right theories. Now, between pop-up advertisements for probioitics, guides on diets that supposedly prevent parasitic infections, and an article claiming that sprouts are a “superfood,” Natural News readers find articles with headlines, such as “This is what the Left has become: Targeting retarded children for transgender indoctrination,” “LGBT progressivism horrors: Parents to start physically maiming their own babies to slice off all ‘gender’ organs in the name of progressivism and ‘equality,’” and “All white people are being removed from history as revisionists rewrite science, medicine and technology to eliminate pioneers based on the color of their skin.”
Natural News had nearly 3 million Facebook followers prior to the ban. The site’s content had previously received permanent bans from Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google News, and Apple, according to Natural News founder, Mike Adams, who calls himself the Health Ranger. Wikipedia lists Natural News as a fake news blog.
Adams responded to Facebook’s ban with a vitriolic post Sunday on Natural News. He called Facebook’s decision a “response to a coordinated, heavily-funded smear campaign,” while also describing Facebook and other technology companies as “techno-fascists that now represent the greatest threat to human freedom the world has ever seen.” He posted an image lining up pictures of tech leaders, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook, under pictures of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao Zedong.
Adams wrote:
The techno-fascists, including Wikipedia, have decided that no speech that questions any official narrative will be allowed on any platform. Anyone who questions the safety of toxic vaccines, 5G cell towers, geoengineering, chemotherapy or glyphosate weed killer chemicals is now maliciously attacked, smeared and de-platformed. You’re not even allowed now to talk about nutrition, anti-cancer foods or nutritional supplements without being labeled a “vitamin” website accused of pushing fake cures. (That’s right: The left-wing authoritarian tyrants are now anti-nutrition on top of everything else.)
Adams also posted a nearly hour-long video rant over Facebook’s decision on Brighteon.com. In the post, which follows advertisements for things such as mushroom powder, turmeric root powder, and organic honey, Adams urged President Trump to “unleash the military police” to dismantle the tech giants. “We need a new D-Day against the tech giants,” he said.
Facebook’s removal of Adam’s content follows efforts from prominent platforms to flush out sources of disinformation. In the latest wave of such tech detoxes, Facebook announced a crackdown on anti-vaccine misinformation from its platform amid pressure from politicians and several measles outbreaks.
Editor’s Note: This post was updated to include a comment from a Facebook spokesperson.