Bret Weinstein 2020 Facebook Ban

Overview

Bret Weinstein 2020 Facebook Ban refers to the social media site Facebook banning American biologist and evolutionary theorist Bret Weinstein from its platform on October 22nd, 2020. The reason for the ban was initially not made public and became notable for the controversy surrounding it. Some speculated it was for his discussions on COVID-19 being potentially manufactured in a lab in Wuhan, China, but a Facebook representative later stated on Twitter that it was "mistakenly banned." The news sparked a debate between supporters and detractors of Weinstein on social media and the use of automatic bans.

Background

On October 22nd, 2020, Bret Weinstein announced on his Twitter^[1] account that he had been banned from Facebook. According to the tweet, which also included a screenshot of the notification from Facebook, the reason for the ban was unknown at the time and offered no explanation. “I have been evicted from Facebook. No explanation. No appeal. I have downloaded ‘my information’ and see nothing that explains it.” The tweet (seen below), received over 52,900 likes and 15,500 retweets in roughly 20 hours.

Developments

Online Reactions

Later that day on October 22nd, 2020, Twitter^[2] user Sean Ono Lennon (son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) commented on the ban in a tweet and said, “This is crazy! Even for someone like me who is well aware of baseless cancellations by our social media overlords, to evict my friend @BretWeinstein is a new kind of insanity.” The tweet (shown below), received over 4,400 likes and 1,100 retweets in 19 hours.

Shortly after, Twitter^[3] user apark2453 also replied to Weinstein’s post about the ban and said, “I use a private company's products and services, and am suddenly upset that they get to "make their own rules" about what happens on their property,” receiving 345 likes in 18 hours (seen below, left). Hours later, Tulsi Gabbard replied to the original tweet^[4] and said, “This is insane,” receiving over 7,600 likes and 615 retweets in 14 hours (seen below, right).

After news of the ban spread across Twitter, it also reached sites such as Reddit, where the tweet was shared to the /r/JoeRogan^[5] sub that same day. Before the thread was locked, the post accumulated over 6,300 upvotes, 2,200 comments and two Reddit awards. Several Redditors speculated that the ban potentially stemmed from either an algorithm automatically banning him or his discussions surrounding the coronavirus being created or leaked in a Chinese virology lab, which was discussed on Weinstein’s DarkHorse Podcast^[6] (shown below, left) and the Joe Rogan Experience^[7] (shown below, right).

Facebook Staff Acknowledgment and Reversal of Ban

Roughly 10 hours after Weinstein announced that he was banned from the platform, a Facebook representative on Twitter^[8] named Liz Bourgeois replied to his tweet and stated that the ban was “mistakenly flagged by our system for identifying impostor accounts” and had been restored around the same time as her reply (seen below).

About three hours later, Weinstein posted another message regarding the ban and replied to Bourgeois’ tweet^[9] criticizing them for the message included with the ban’s announcement on Facebook. The tweet received over 4,900 likes and 786 retweets in 12 hours (shown below).

Search Interest

External References