There was a time when Facebook censorship was virtually non-existent and Facebook pages could actually reach the hundreds of thousands of fans they purportedly had.
But since Facebook became a publicly traded company and its “algorithms” changed to limit reach so that people had to pay in order to reach their fans, censorship has become more and more commonplace.
One area where Facebook censorship has become especially noticeable is among “activist” pages, especially those that challenge Monsanto and Big Food directly.
Currently the biggest story in the world of food activism is the pending DARK Act, a phony GMO “labeling” bill (HR 1599) that would actually revoke states’ individual rights to pass laws that require mandatory labeling of GMOs, laws that are currently on the books in over 60 countries.
With a decisive vote looming and GMO labeling hanging in the balance, one website wrote a bombshell article that could have changed everything.
But now, with time ticking away and Thursday the likely voting day for the bill that could deny our Right to Know, it appears as if the article, and its follow-up version, are being blocked.
Natural Society Article Being Blocked?
The article, titled ‘Congress Could Soon Ban GMO Labeling Under New Bill,’ was posted on Natural Society’s Facebook page to over 215,000 fans.
It was quickly discovered that thousands of people attempting to share the article on social media were running into all sorts of problems, however.
Many received “security messages” from Facebook that required them to click several pictures of animals (see below) before sharing, and even then their posts mysteriously disappeared from their walls or news feeds.
They also received messages that the link was deemed “not safe” before visiting.
An example of the Facebook security measures one poster got.
Eventually, the article was posted on the March Against Monsanto Facebook (which has nearly 900,000 Facebook fans) along with a screenshot of the censorship below.
But the link was only seen by 59,000+ of those fans as of late Friday morning (11 a.m.).
Many people continued to report various problems associated with the link, and Natural Society assured its fans that there was no security issue.
I personally clicked on the Natural Society article and got a warning message. I then noticed that it had an astonishingly low number of social media shares, considering it had been posted to millions (!!) of Facebook fans:
Several people on both the Natural Society and MAM pages have reported they haven’t been able to share it at all:
After this I began to experiment myself. I clicked on most of Natural Society’s articles with no problems. But this one was the only one with the same “security issue.” I then attempted to share the article on my personal Facebook wall and got the following message:
Is this a case of censorship of a specific story that has the potential to bring Congress’ latest sneak attack against real organic food to light, or is it a mere coincidence? That’s up to you to decide (try sharing the article yourself and let us know what you see). But this type of thing has been reported before, especially in regards to high-impact, time-sensitive articles that could change public opinion.
In the meantime, there is much work to be done if we have hopes of saving mandatory GMO labeling in the United States.
How to Save GMO Labeling
The DARK Act, which has been dubbed ‘The Monsanto Protection Act on Steroids,’ is also known as known as H.R. 1599, or the ‘Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.’
It was just passed by the House Agriculture Committee and was actually drafted by the Grocery Manufacturers’ Association (GMA) with the support of Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo who has received contributions from McDonald’s, Monsanto and several other major players in Big “Food.”
Over 90% of Americans consistently say they want GMOs labeled and yet Congress is attempting to do the opposite, as early as next week.
Here is what GMO Free USA had to say about how we can stop it on their Facebook page, in case that’s being censored as well:
Tell Congress to Stop Doing Big Food and Monsanto’s Dirtywork: Americans Need to Know if It’s GMO. CALL Your U.S. Representative NOW and tell them to VOTE NO on HR1599.
Find your Reps here: https://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51225/getLocal.jsp
Sign the petition: http://tinyurl.com/StopTheDARKAct
More from GMO Free USA on the GMO Labeling Ban, which could be voted on this coming Thursday:
“The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), of which Nestle, Kellogg’s, and Monsanto are members, has written a bill that’s made its way through the House Ag committee this week. The bill will be brought up for a vote in the House next Thursday. HR1599, AKA The DARK Act – Deny American the Right to Know, would outlaw States’ Rights to enact mandatory GMO labeling and would prohibit mandatory GMO labeling at the federal level…
“It would overturn GMO crop cultivation bans passed at the county level and it would also allow GMOs to be labeled “natural” and allow some GMOs to be labeled as Non-GMO. And to further deceive the American People, it would do away with the independent nonprofit Non-GMO Project Verified label in favor of a corrupted USDA non-GMO label…
“The GMA calls HR1599 “The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015” – HR1599 is anything but safe or accurate.
Please make the call and help us get the word out.”
Update: A new Natural Society article just came out; you can view it here. However similar censorship is being reported. Try to share it if you get a chance and let us know what happens.
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About Nick Meyer
