Facebook has permanently disabled the page of LifeSiteNews, a media outlet that has an emphasis on pro-life and Christian content. The reason Facebook gave for banning LifeSite was that the outlet was spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
“Much like when LifeSite was removed from YouTube, this comes with little surprise,” said Rebekah Roberts, marketing director for LifeSiteNews, which describes itself as “a non-profit Internet service dedicated to issues of culture, life, and family.” Roberts continued:
We have known this day was coming for months now. Facebook has been silencing any voice that goes against their beliefs and agenda. Our LifeSiteNews Facebook page has been removed simply because we have shared reports of doctors, nurses, expert researchers, and even the former Pfizer VP speaking out against the COVID shots. We’ve also been tagged for the numerous articles we have shared making the connection between the COVID shots, and really all vaccines, and aborted baby cell lines.
LifeSiteNews: It’s Shocking
“This apparently is not a temporary measure: It is gone for good,” said LifeSite’s Doug Mainwaring. “In a quick series of notices and emails to LifeSiteNews’ marketing department, Facebook delivered the shocking news, accusing LifeSite of publishing ‘false information about COVID-19 that could contribute to physical harm.’” Facebook has confirmed that the reason the social media giant suspended LifeSite was due to the outlet “repeatedly violating our COVID-19 policies.”
Mainwaring said that one of the posts Facebook specifically mentioned was, “COVID vaccines can be deadly for some,” which was written by Luke Yamaguchi. The article, categorized as an opinion piece on the LifeSiteNews website, states, “A review of the data made available by the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), shows many cases of people who got COVID-19 and survived, only to die soon after receiving their COVID vaccine.”
LifeSite’s post links to an article from The Telegraph citing data indicating that people who previously had COVID-19 were more likely to have symptoms after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The Telegraph’s article, however, presents a favorable view of the vaccine overall. The rest of Yamaguchi’s article presents a list of people who had COVID-19, got the COVID-19 vaccine, and then passed away. “Anecdotal stories in the news suggest that some people who previously had COVID-19 and recovered, died after receiving a COVID vaccination,” said Yamaguchi. None of the examples in the article offer evidence that the vaccine was the direct cause of death.
This is not the first time that LifeSiteNews has been banned from a major social media platform. In February of this year, LifeSite was permanently banned from YouTube, also on the grounds that it was spreading misinformation about COVID-19. In a statement, a YouTube spokesperson said, “In accordance with our longstanding strikes system, we terminated the channel LifeSiteNews Media for repeatedly violating our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content that promotes prevention methods that contradict local health authorities or WHO.”
In October 2020, LifeSite reported that its Twitter account had been restored after a year of being suspended. According to LifeSite, Twitter suspended the organization because of a tweet to an article with the headline, “Trans activist Jonathan ‘Jessica’ Yaniv ‘shocked…confused’ gynaecologist won’t see him.” After appealing the decision several times, LifeSite decided to remove the Tweet, but not to admit to any wrongdoing. Said Roberts, “We simply stated that we would remove the tweet in order to gain access to our account. We plan to continue to share all the truth exactly as our Christian conscience dictates.”