As Americans celebrated new beginnings with Passover and Christ’s Resurrection in April, Big Tech companies showed that they are not making a full reformation any time soon.
Meta and communist Chinese government-tied TikTok were the two biggest offenders against free speech in April. This comes even after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed in January that his platforms would institute free speech reforms, and it raises concerns about about TikTok's continued presence in the U.S. Facebook censored a self-described “conservative” city council candidate and Instagram targeted a podcast host, both for supposed account integrity violations, though Instagram later admitted an error. TikTok, meanwhile, launched a rash of censorship against critics of transgenderism and women praising their husbands.
Below are the worst censorship cases of April, as recorded in MRC’s unique CensorTrack database.
Facebook disables account of a city council candidate while her opponent’s account remains up. Courtney Knill — a self-described “conservative” and candidate for Charles Town, West Virginia, city council — posted a screenshot on X on April 28 that displayed an apparent Facebook message, “We disabled your account[.] We reviewed your account and found that it still doesn’t follow our Community Standards on account integrity.” Knill did not specify what content might have led Facebook to censor her account, nor did the message from the platform. Knill later claimed on the Timcast podcast that her most “controversial” content only involved her interactions at a farmers’ market. She also stated that her “progressive” opponent in the city council race is still on Facebook.
Chinese government-tied TikTok censored proud wives’ posts praising their husbands. The Chinese-owned app made multiple mystifying censorship decisions in April. For instance, the platform removed user JamCat’s compliment, “My husband is my best friend and I love being with him, we laugh and have so much fun together, lol snaggle tooth.” TikTok asserted there was an unexplained Community Guidelines violation. Even more shocking, TikTok age-restricted a Veteran's Day 2024 post on April 1, showing the user’s husband in Navy uniform and praising him, “Honoring my husband today, and all the proud men and women who bravely serve. Our freedom is guarded by these heroes. Thank you to all our veterans. The United States owes you so much more than you are given.”
Chinese government-tied TikTok continues to crush free speech opposing transgenderism. Last month, MRC researchers noted that TikTok censored many critics of the transgender ideology, something other platforms have dramatically scaled back on. That trend continued into April. TikTok removed Visitor2Earth’s April 30 comment criticizing an ad for showing “a man pretending to be a woman.” TikTok targeted the same user earlier in April for bashing biological men in women’s sports. The platform also censored the accounts Trump’s Bird and Bubba Blue for criticizing men in women’s sports. The app additionally removed a comment from the account ShonziTho, who said “no, you are a man,” apparently in response to someone claiming to be transgender. A comment from the account Kapri25’s “Trans are not women” likewise disappeared thanks to TikTok.
Instagram abruptly suspended podcaster’s account and admitted error when pressed by MRC. Podcast host Hannah Faulkner posted on Facebook, “Hey, Zuckerberg what happened to ‘free speech’?! My main instagram [sic] account with close to 20k followers has been suspended and removed for ‘violating community guidelines’…” She included a screenshot showing an April 22 Instagram message stating, “We suspended your account… 180 days left to appeal or we’ll permanently disable your account.” Instagram also claimed, “Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards on account integrity.” Upon inquiry from MRC, a Meta spokesperson admitted, “This account was mistakenly removed for impersonation, but has since been restored.”
Instagram deleted user's post regarding Canadian traffic laws. An X user shared a screenshot showing his comment, “listen here dog, you can pass on double yellows in Ontario Canada but nowhere else in the world.” Instagram removed the post for “bullying and harassment,” leading the user to guess that the word “dog” triggered the censorship. He asserted, however, that he used the term because the other user's page was “all about dogs.”
Free speech is under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech and government be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
