Greenpeace USA among HUNDREDS of environmentalist pages blocked by Facebook ahead of online protest against gas pipeline project
The list of organizations that had their accounts temporarily banned by the social media giant includes mostly US-based environmentalist and indigenous groups such asPresente.org, Rainforest Action Network and Rising Tide North America.
A group called Climate Hawks Vote, which lately has spared no effort to promote a group of Democrats running for the US Senate, made it on the list as well.
The social media giant, which kept the environmentalist pages blocked for about two days last weekend, promptly apologized and blamed the incident on a technical glitch.
They have since been restored and weve lifted any limits imposed on identified profiles, a company spokesperson said in a statement.
However, the company still faced accusations of supporting fascist and colonialist forces because it turned out that all the blocked accounts were linked to a prolonged protest against a gas pipeline project in Canadas British Columbia.
The Coastal GasLink seeks to build a 670 km pipeline to the coast that is expected to go through the lands of the indigenous people known as Wet'suwet'en . The CGL says it obtained consent from elected tribal officials but the deal is disputed by the hereditary chiefs, whose status Canada does not recognize.
Their accounts were blocked just ahead of another online event, which prompted Greenpeace and some indigenous leaders to accuse the social media giant of political and corporate bias.
Fossil fuel companies and their funders will use every tool in their toolbox to attempt to silence us, said Annie Leonard, the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA.
It also vowed to tackle climate misinformation in a similar way to how it tackles what it deems fake news by partnering with more than 70 independent fact-checking organizations globally, covering more than 60 languages and reducing the distribution of content debunked by them.
We use cookies and analyse traffic to this site. By continuing to use this site, closing this banner, or clicking "I Agree", you agree to the use of cookies. Read our privacy poplicy for more information.