{"id":2919,"date":"2022-01-28T21:01:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T20:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2022\/01\/28\/facebook-reddit-ban-pro-cop-comic-that-broke-no-platform-rules-the-federalist\/"},"modified":"2022-01-28T21:01:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T20:01:34","slug":"facebook-reddit-ban-pro-cop-comic-that-broke-no-platform-rules-the-federalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2022\/01\/28\/facebook-reddit-ban-pro-cop-comic-that-broke-no-platform-rules-the-federalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook, Reddit Ban Pro-Cop Comic That Broke No Platform Rules &#8211; The Federalist"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Comics legend Mike Baron and his pro-cop comic book \u201cThin Blue Line\u201d are unwelcome on Facebook or Reddit, despite not breaking any of the rules stated on either platform. Facebook has so far blocked all attempts by Baron and his team to use Facebook ads. The largest comic book social media page, the \u201cr\/comics\u201d subreddit, which has more than 1.7 million subscribers, has now blocked all posts about Baron\u2019s comic, and, it seems, this author.<br \/>It&#8217;s yet more of the now endemic banning and shadow-banning of non-leftist content across all major Internet platforms. Conservatives are often still treated as second-tier users at best, blocked on social media, shamed in online communities, only to be occasionally tolerated but never welcomed.<br \/>The modern-day comic book industry and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/25\/g4-host-complains-gamers-dont-like-her-because-shes-not-as-bangable-as-olivia-munn\/\">nerd culture industries<\/a> are antagonistic to traditional perspectives and conservative worldviews. So some nerds, being dedicated fanatics (the root of the word \u201cfan\u201d), have decided to make their own way. <br \/>Creatives have leaped over the gatekeepers and now sell their ideas and products directly to their audience using the internet. These projects, like Ethan Van Sciver\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiegogo.com\/projects\/ethan-van-sciver-s-cyberfrog-2-rekt-planet#\/\">Cyber Frog<\/a>,\u201d are often so successful they outsell anything the mainstream comics publishers are doing. But social media still plays a critical function in their success.<br \/>Despite being an Eisner Award winner (the highest award in comics), Baron, like so many comics creators now suddenly seen as right-wing, was banned and rejected from publishing his pro-law enforcement superhero book project through traditional means. He thus turned to IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. After a series of media appearances and interviews, including with this <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/17\/thin-blue-line-writer-mike-baron-talks-comics-police-and-woke-politics\/\">outlet<\/a>, the campaign succeeded.<br \/>Baron&#8217;s team has applied for Facebook ads on multiple occasions to advertise the campaign. Every time they have been denied, based on the idea that law enforcement is a &#8220;social issue.&#8221; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/policies\/ads\/restricted_content\/political\">official<\/a> Facebook policy for social issues says the following:<br \/>Advertisers can run ads about social issues, elections or politics, provided the advertiser complies with all applicable laws and the authorization process required by Facebook. Where appropriate, Facebook may restrict issue, electoral or political ads.<br \/>This massively broad policy allows Facebook to basically ban whatever social issue ad it wants. <br \/>For one, Baron&#8217;s page shouldn\u2019t need to get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/policies\/ads\/restricted_content\/political\">authorization<\/a>, as his content doesn\u2019t fall under the social issues, elections, or politics rubric. The book isn\u2019t even out yet.<br \/>On appeal Facebook added: \u201cOur policy for running ads about social issue, electoral or politics requires you to get authorized first by confirming your identity and creating a disclaimer that lists who is paying for the ads.\u201d<br \/>Baron followed the authorization process, and he yet has not heard back from Facebook. According to the official Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/policies\/ads\">advertising<\/a> policy, nothing says a comic book promotion isn\u2019t allowed.<br \/>Possibly, Facebook is not denying the ad based on what\u2019s in it, but on the social media updates for the project on IndieGoGo. The comic plot is inspired by the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020, and part of the plot features a female officer pinning down a black man. In the video <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HTIJXQ1l8wc\">trailer<\/a> for the comic, a background scene portrays protestors carrying signs such as &#8220;Screw the blue&#8221; and &#8220;Defund the police.&#8221;<br \/>But that content isn\u2019t in the ad nor on the comic&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thinbluelinecomic\/\">Facebook page<\/a>.<br \/>Part of the irony in all of this is that there are many Facebook pages with much more sketchy content, like the company Toomics, which routinely gets away with promoting links to pornographic content. Do they have to worry about getting in trouble for posting about \u201csocial issues\u201d too?<br \/>But it isn\u2019t just the king of social media that is blocking Baron from publishing content about his comic. When Baron and his readers try to post links to the comic or media appearances on Reddit, they often find the posts banned. When a reader tried to <a href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2022\/01\/24\/the-comics-subreddit-bans-mike-barons-thin-blue-line-for-misinformation-and-racism\/\">link to my interview<\/a> with Baron on the largest comics&#8217; social media page on the net, the r\/comics subreddit, the post was removed by moderators for &#8220;misinformation and racism.&#8221; <br \/>According to the subreddit&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/comics\/\">rules<\/a>, the post should have been in the clear. A user tried to get an explanation from the moderators: \u201cPlease point out the \u2018racism\u2019 or misinformation\u2019 in the post that merely shared a link about Mike Baron\u2019s Thin Blue Line graphic novel.\u201d In return, he was muted.<br \/>My <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/17\/thin-blue-line-writer-mike-baron-talks-comics-police-and-woke-politics\/\">interview<\/a> has nothing to say about race. The interview itself is meant to expose readers to a well-respected comics creator getting back into comics and doing it on a meaningful topic to conservatives. When I interviewed Baron, I interviewed him as a professional reporter. It\u2019s a mainstream story of relevance and of legitimate interest to the comic book-reading community.<br \/>Baron isn\u2019t a racist. He is married to a lovely Korean woman; the story\u2019s protagonist is a Hispanic woman with a black partner. But to \u201cmoderators,\u201d it doesn\u2019t matter that the creator is a legend, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mike_Baron\">famous<\/a> for his run on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/40-greatest-punisher-stories-40-36\/2\/\">Punisher<\/a>,\u201d \u201cFlash,\u201d \u201cBatman,\u201d \u201cStar Wars,\u201d and more, nor that the article is unobjectionable. The actual content is irrelevant.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210630053604\/https:\/twitter.com\/xpatriciah\/status\/1410091688719228931\">Journalists<\/a>, social media platforms, and the keyboard justice warriors who moderate them feel that since the story doesn&#8217;t call all cops bastards and that the outlet is *gasp* conservative, these things are equivalent to dangerous racist misinformation. So, the legitimate non-lefty work gets throttled, blocked, and hidden from view \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/IOgk0FxlxTY\">outrageous behavior<\/a>, but typical of Big Tech.<br \/>&copy; 2022 The Federalist, A wholly independent division of FDRLST Media. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/28\/facebook-reddit-ban-pro-cop-comic-that-broke-no-platform-rules\/\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comics legend Mike Baron and his pro-cop comic book \u201cThin Blue Line\u201d are unwelcome on Facebook or Reddit, despite not breaking any of the rules stated on either platform. Facebook has so far blocked all attempts by Baron and his team to use Facebook ads. The largest comic book social media page, the \u201cr\/comics\u201d subreddit, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}