Facebook has apologized for initially banning a temporary frame around a profile picture that paid tribute to the Tiananmen Square student massacre in June 1989.
The social media platform claims that banning the temporary frame that commemorated the 28th anniversary of the pro-democracy movement crushed by the Chinese military was a mistake.
Facebook routinely allows customized frames as an overlay to profile pictures as a method of bringing awareness to certain causes.
Fung Ka Keung, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, actually submitted two Tiananmen-themed frames in late May. Facebook rejected the first one, claiming that it "belittles, threatens or attacks a particular person, legal entity, nationality or group."
The initial design reportedly called for the end of the dictatorship while the second one contained the words "don't forget June 4."
According to the Daily Mail, Fung received an email from Facebook explaining, "'Our member of staff had mistakenly rejected your picture frame. We sincerely apologize for the incident and had approved the use of your frame now."
Facebook is blocked on mainland China, but is still accessible in Hong Kong, which is a quasi-autonomous, so-called special administrative region. As has been widely reported, tension exists between the Beijing government and democracy advocates in Hong Kong who seek real autonomy for the city/state.
"I wouldn't be surprised if political motivations were behind the decisions. I doubt they would have been approved if what happened wasn't publicized," Fung told the BBC.
After the frames obtained approval, thousands of Facebook users updated their profile with the same art.
"Almost 28 years after Beijing’s violent crackdown on the student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, the incident remains taboo in mainland China. The Chinese government censors books relating to the event and blocks online searches of relevant terms," the Hong Kong Free Press explained.
https://twitter.com/fungkakeung/status/869808232641961984
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along many of his Silicon Valley contemporaries, is a foe of the Trump administration, while the social media network also stands accused in this country of censoring news that doesn't fit within the liberal/progressive agenda. It is even partnering with several ultra left-wing groups to fact check "fake news." (Related: Read more about attempts to suppress free speech at Censorship.news.)
As Natural News founder Mike Adams opined, Facebook (which is sometimes called Fakebook) is devolving into a left-wing propaganda echo chamber.
https://twitter.com/fungkakeung/status/869807540648935425
Globalist Zuckerberg is a champion of open borders, even while living in a walled mansion and surrounded by bodyguards.
The giant tech company apparently seeks to make inroads in China, a country controlled by a communist dictatorship. Against that backdrop, when it comes to speaking truth to power, Facebook may be engaging in a form of selective volume.
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