By Dave Workman | Editor-in-Chief
Facebook has disabled a pro-Second Amendment private group—Greybar Hotel—on the grounds that it violates “community standards” allegedly without explaining what those standards require, according to site founder Fredd Bergman, and he is frustrated.
He is wondering if the problem isn’t Greybar Hotel’s questioning of Sen. Kamala Harris’ position on gun control. Harris has an anti-gun history dating back to her time as California attorney general. On the presidential campaign trail, Harris declared she would, if elected, give Congress 100 days to act on her gun control agenda or she would take executive action.
In a private message to TGM, Bergmann explained, “They also give notice that they will not divulge what post(s) violated the standards. I started to delete posts in reverse chronological order. There was no option to simply delete. The similar option was to delete post and remove author. I clicked that button and a window popped up that said I don’t have authorization to ‘edit’ the group. I started and built this group. I have tried to maintain what they consider their standards. There is no flaming, no sales, and no revolutionaries. It appears they have shut me down simply because it’s gun related. Again, they will not say what the alleged violations were.”
Bergmann established the group in May 2011. At the time, he explained in a lengthy narrative, he was an election volunteer coordinator for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action in Texas.
“My idea was to feature news of legislation in that district and surrounding areas,” he wrote. “But I live in a red state that is very pro-2A, and (Gov. Rick) Perry was making it more so, quickly. So I decided to make a good thing better and began to feature news stories from around the U.S. to make my work more relevant and helpful to those concerned. In the beginning I invited friends and people I knew through Second Amendment advocacy and the shooting business.”
The group eventually grew to about 685 members. Bergmann said it could not be viewed by non-members.
“Topics have included terrorism, freedom in China, Hong Kong, spread of Communism in South America, spread of fascism throughout Africa, and military progress and activities by Russia, China and North Korea,” he said. “There was also quite a bit of humor shared in terms of satire, memes videos and music. It wasn’t all about business. It was fun. And there became, though broad, a close-knit group of regulars that felt like family—like a brotherhood with sisters on board.”
Bergmann said the group “effectively policed itself.”
“We are all so likeminded,” he observed, “if I didn’t notice a member was causing trouble, saying things that might get the group in trouble, or were obviously interlopers, I took swift action.”
Lately, there has been complaints among conservatives that Facebook is shutting down their groups because of a liberal bias. Facebook denies this, but a recent article in WIRED magazine revealed an overwhelming amount of financial support from Silicon Valley for Democrat Joe Biden.
As reported by WIRED, “According to data released by the Federal Election Commission, which requires individuals who contribute $200 or more to a presidential campaign to report their employer, employees at these six companies have contributed $4,787,752 to Biden and just $239,527 to Trump.”
Has Bergmann’s Facebook group become a casualty of politics?
“On the morning of October 9th,” Bergmann wrote in his narrative, “I had a Facebook message from their administration that popped onto my screen. I was unable to conduct any other activity on Facebook until I acknowledged the notice. It said the group had been “Disabled.” I acknowledged and went to the group control panel. The information there said the group was no longer visible to group members, and indicated that administrators could still access the group, confer on whatever violations caused the problem, and determine as to whether the posts would be deleted, or if we would contest their initial determination by means of appeal.
“Among the information available,” he explained, “Facebook rules state that when charged with a violation, there is an appeals process available, and Facebook will provide the exact violating material.
“I scoured the site and information available with group administrator Dave Berg,” he continued. “In the ‘Group Quality’ section of administrative tools, Facebook had a notice that we did not have any history false/fake news in the group (screen shot provided), but we had violated ‘Community Standards.’ There were no violations listed where they claim the violations should be listed.
“Later in the day,” Bergmann recalled, “Dave found a notice—a gate—getting back into the group admin area that someone had requested a “review” of their charge. Dave and I were the only ones working on the situation, and neither of us had been able to find a way to appeal. There is no button, no field, no link to any way we could discover to determine what the violation(s) was, and how to address it. We scoured the virtual labyrinth of Facebooks pages concerning Community Standard, and how to follow them, as well as a description of the appeals process (screen grab attached). It might have helped us, but Facebook would not reveal the alleged violation. On October 10th, Facebook changed the notice within the quality section of the administrative controls. They had added a notice that I had posted a false and misleading story about Kamala Harris’ position on the 2nd Amendment (screen shot). There is still no option to appeal.”
Ammoland News reported this week that Gun Owners of America has filed a complaint against Facebook with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).
According to the report by Editor-in-Chief Fredy Riehl, “Gun Owners of America (GOA) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Facebook, AFP Fact Check, and Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris for violating provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by engaging in so-called ‘fact checking’ of articles critical of Kamala Harris’s record on the Second Amendment.”
