(Headline USA) One of the most popular satire sites on the internet is now under attack from the media and big tech giants that aren’t getting the joke.
The Babylon Bee, a well-known Christian satire site that regularly roasts Democrats and its own faith, has come under attack from big tech for a while now, but recently it has intensified. In recent months, Facebook has taken issue with satirical posts from the Babylon Bee.
In fact, Facebook demonitized the Babylon Bee in October of last year, but they corrected their decision after public outcry.
“They’ve lifted the restrictions on our account and restored the article they previously deleted,” the website’s CEO Seth Dillon said at the time of the incident. “But questions remain. Why did it have to take getting the media involved to fix this? And why did it happen in the first place?”
This was one of many run-ins with Facebook’s censorship team.
Notably, Facebook recently released guidelines for satire posts:
“True satire does not ‘punch down”: the target of humorous or satirical content is often an indicator of intent.” Facebook appears to believe it can make the call on what is “true satire” and what is not.
Critics say that intent, especially as perceived by liberal opponents of the Babylon Bee, would likely be loosely interpreted.
Right after Facebook released the policy, the far-left outlet Salon literally quoted those regulations in an attack against The Babylon Bee.
The outlet posted an article writing that The Babylon Bee has “a nasty tendency to punch down with humor parts of its audience find ‘refreshingly politically incorrect.’”
It didn’t take much for the Babylon Bee to put two and two together.
“If you can’t see where this is going next, you’re blind,” Dillon said.
Soon after, Dillon posted on Twitter that his website’s MailChimp account had been suspended.
I’d email everyone to let them know @Mailchimp just suspended our account but Mailchimp just suspended our account. pic.twitter.com/vrcca5Vjwt
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 24, 2021
MailChimp restored the account, but it was too little too late.
Thank you, but we’re moving to an email service provider that doesn’t make these “mistakes.” We’d also prefer to be on a platform that doesn’t censor conservatives for being “hateful” or “misinformative.” https://t.co/XSI9EUjOgc
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 24, 2021
Even amidst the attacks, The Babylon Bee has stayed true to its humorous nature. In an article posted October of last year, they mocked Facebook for its censorship:
While many social media networks are struggling with slowing the spread of fake news, Facebook is suffering from the opposite problem. People are sharing jokes thinking they are just funny, fake stories, but then they are finding out that they are closer to the truth than any Fox News or CNN article.
“The Babylon Bee claims to be satire, but their articles keep coming true. It’s a clear case of false advertising,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “We can’t allow a news source this pure, this true, this perfect to infiltrate our platform and actually tell the people the truth.”
