Facebook censors Babylon Bee post on trans-identified 'Jeopardy!' champion as 'hate speech'
The Babylon Bee has accused Facebook of wrongfully labeling a post referring to former “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider a biological male as “hate speech.”
Joel Berry, the managing editor of the popular Christian satirical website, took to Twitter on Monday to share a screenshot of a Bee article removed by Facebook.
The post was from Jan. 1 and included a link to a Babylon Bee satire piece with the headline “Trans Woman Breaks Jeopardy Record, Proving Once And For All That Men Are Smarter Than Women.”
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The article was about Schneider, a trans-identified female, passing the total amount of winnings that a biological female had earned on “Jeopardy!” during Schneider’s reign.
Facebook reportedly told the Bee that the post “goes against our Community Standards on hate speech” and that the post will not be visible to others.
Facebook just removed one of @TheBabylonBee's posts for "hate speech" ???? pic.twitter.com/k9vaLhuEBK
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) February 21, 2022
“Facebook just removed one of @TheBabylonBee’s posts for ‘hate speech,’” tweeted Berry in amusement, adding in a follow-up comment that he was “proud of this” and that it is “not often we manage to get transphobia and misogyny into one headline.”
Bee CEO Seth Dillon said in a statement posted on the affiliated website Not the Bee that he would appeal the decision labeling the post “hate speech.”
“Remember how Facebook recently rolled out new rules stipulating that ‘real satire’ cannot ‘punch down’? Are they really willing to say that defending women against a male takeover of their records is ‘punching down’ and – even worse – ‘hate speech’? We’re going to find out,” stated Dillon.
Facebook’s community standards define hate speech as a “direct attack against people — rather than concepts or institutions— on the basis of what we call protected characteristics.” Those characteristics include race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and disease.
“We define attacks as violent or dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation,” the policy states.
The Christian Post reached out to Facebook for comment. A response is pending.
Facebook and Babylon Bee have periodically butted heads, with the social media site arguing that some posts from the satire outlet have been harmful in some way or another.
In 2020, for example, Facebook demonetized The Babylon Bee after posting a link to a satirical piece that made fun of Democratic U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.
Titled “Senator Hirono Demands ACB Be Weighed Against A Duck To See If She Is A Witch,” The Bee was reportedly told by Facebook that their post “incites violence.”
“It’s literally a regurgitated joke from a Monty Python movie!” stated Dillon on Twitter back in 2020. “In what universe does a fictional quote as part of an obvious joke constitute a genuine incitement to violence? How does context not come into play here?”
