American political commentator James Allsup has been banned from both Facebook and Instagram in the latest example of Big Tech crackdowns on right-wing media personalities.
Allsup, 23, is the former President of the Washington State University College Republicans and currently runs a YouTube channel with almost half a million subscribers covering various political topics.
Earlier last week, National File became aware that Allsup’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were no longer searchable on both platforms, and Allsup posted a video to his YouTube account on August 20 titled “I Will Soon Be Banned And This Is Why.”
In the video, Allsup confirmed that his accounts were permanently suspended, despite the fact that he was not active on Facebook and did not post political content on Instagram.
Speaking to National File via email, Allsup said, “I was banned from Facebook and Instagram, I believe, due to a targeted attack campaign by the ADL. Their activists, including Mark Pitcavage, were the only people celebrating the bannings on Twitter, shortly after they placed me on a hit list of people they want forcibly silenced.”
Allsup also addressed the reason he believes he was deplatformed: “I did not post politics on Instagram, only pictures of me, my friends, and family, living a fairly regular life. They hate me because I am providing an example of the lifestyle they want to destroy- in my 20’s, married, with a young child. I wasn’t silenced for being ‘dangerous’ – I was silenced because I break the mold of the ‘evil toothless Nazi’ caricature they want to create.”
This type of “hate figure” deplatforming has become more popular in recent months, as big tech companies decide that users no longer have to violate their platforms’ terms of service to receive a ban if they are designated a hateful or dangerous figure by company staff.
Earlier this year Facebook and Instagram banned conservative figures Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and Paul Joseph Watson under the pretext of removing hateful figures and organizations that pose a risk to public safety.
The tech platforms have yet to provide a coherent definition for who they consider “dangerous figures,” and as more people continue to fall under the ban hammer one has to wonder if “dangerous” is simply a euphemism for having political views contrary to those at Facebook headquarters.
