My Complaint Against Facebook

Personal Impact Statement — What Facebook Did to Me — by Robert Fenton Gary — 11 Feb 2019

I wrote several posts that were political commentary, and dealt with issues of immigration of foreigners into the USA.

In these posts I suggested that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump because of her declared intent to let 100,000 people from Syria into USA.

My political analysis is either true and correct, or it is untrue and incorrect. But it is not “hate speech”. It may suggest the wisdom of excluding a certain group of people from USA, but the model behavior to respond to my posts is to explain why it would be wise to let 100,000 persons from Syria into the USA.

Instead, Facebook chose to lash out at me in ways that violate its own rules, and that are contradictory to the rules of USA.

Facebook claims it has the right to do this because it is following it’s community standards, where “community” means all the people in the world.

What Facebook is doing is amateur policy analysis combined with draconian punishment for those who do not agree with Facebook’s political views, and this punishment is devoid to due process, and vindictive as we know that ideology warriors can be vindictive and vicious.

The issue of letting in Syrians, or people from south of the border is one that we should talk about. We should not just do as Angela Merkel did, or as Hillary said she wanted to do. My posts were conversational in tone, and they invited people to agree or to disagree with me. Political speech is the most highly protected speech in USA under our First Amendment.

But Facebook claims it hears voices from the 9 billion people on the whole Earth and having heard such voices, it has no obligation to comply with the laws or community standards of USA, where it operates among other places. Most corporations have to follow the laws and standards of wherever they are. But Facebook says it is following a higher standard, a global standard, and that it represents the interests of all mankind.

To illustrate the viciousness and harmful quality of Facebook’s conduct in my own case, I will tell you that my posts were flagged based on “keywords” that could not possibly have been avoided to be mentioned in any posts that entailed serious policy analysis of the issues I was dealing with, which are vital issues to the future well being of USA.

Facebook at first imposed a defined punishment of 30 days suspension.

After than period of punishment was served, and before any other political posts were written by me, in one day of not being suspended, Facebook imposed another 30 days of suspension based on posts that had been written in July of 2018. This is a vicious act. It contains no Due Process. It is wrongful, intentional, and vindictive.

Apart from my personal page, I have two business pages on Facebook — Gary Research, and Inventions by Robert Fenton Gary.

Facebook, in its blind and vicious ideological rage, placed its punishment on all my business pages in addition to my personal page.

This prevented me from advertising my patent which issued on 8 Jan 2019, and thus did great and continuing harm to my ability to earn my livelihood as a professional inventor.

I have been damaged and harmed by Facebook and its corporate Officers, and it lame hamfisted policies, and by its attempt to play at amateur political policy censor.

Facebook’s conduct has been subversive of American community standards and if Facebook is allowed to get away with doing what it did to me, free thought, free speech, and democratic choice making will be on the way out in USA. We will be on the path to serfdom and oriental despotism.

If the Officers of Facebook wish to exercise Constitution-changing political power in USA, they should run for Office and do their mind shaping work on the floor of the US House, the US Senate, or from the Oval Office.

But they have chosen the path of the secret police, of Beria, of Savak, or the KGB.

The Agencies of government are powerless to resist a corporation as powerful and wealthy as Facebook. The Departments of the US government will respond eventually, and will curtail the evil and subversive and vindictive actions of Facebook and its Officers, but not in time to make me whole for the harm that has been done to me.

The free press, and media generally, may someday pick up on the story of Facebook as an enemy attacking American values, no less than Iran, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. But we live in a time when most of the people are non-readers, and they worry more about share values and dividends, which Facebook does very well at. Facebook is talking to the People in the language they understand, cash money. Compared to cash money, ideas are not, at present, very powerful.

Truth and Democracy will make a comeback. They are woven into the fabric of USA, the greatest nation, by far, the world has ever seen or is likely to see.

No jury in America would find Facebook’s conduct in my case to be acceptable in any way, legally, morally, socially, or ethically. Facebook is a monster and a cancer on the face of this great nation. We need to make an example of it, so that other media platforms do not follow Facebook’s ill-begotten pattern to subverting free thought, and free speech.

My story may be an extreme case, but I think there are many others. The day is coming when this great country finds it spine and steps up to organizations like Facebook.

From Hagerstown Maryland USA
This day of 11 Feb 2019,
I am truly,

/s/

Robert Fenton Gary, Inventor, and Retired Navy JAG.