Facebook removed, then restored a page started by a group of University of Missouri alumni seeking a "reasoned response" to racism claims at MU.
It initially suggested the page contained "hate speech," but then restored the page and apologized for what it called an "accidental removal."
Truth Matters MU formed less than a week ago with about 30 initial members who are "sensitive to discrimination, yet also fear many of the recent incidents have been fabricated to create a platform that creates divisiveness and contrarily promotes racial tension rather than inclusion," the group said.
On Tuesday night, Facebook notified the group that its page, #UnityMU, was shut down because it didn't "follow the Facebook Terms and Community Standards," the group said in a news release.
The notification read: "While people can use Facebook to challenge ideas, institutions, and practices, Facebook removes hate speech. Hate speech includes content that directly attacks people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases."
On Wednesday afternoon, Truth Matters appealed and Facebook reversed its decision. Truth Matters founder Russ Jones said Facebook said the removal was an "accident," but that they probably meant "mistake." He suspects groups or individuals supporting the MU protesters complained about the page, and it might have been automatically taken down without anyone from Facebook looking to see whether it indeed violated any policy.
The News Tribune interviewed Rod Chapel, president of the Jefferson City NAACP, before the page was restored. He said he didn't know whether anything on the Facebook page constituted hate speech, but said he leaves that to Facebook to determine.
"We recognize some people are going to be upset for folks that stand up for their civil rights and feel like something has been taken away from them," Chapel said, "and we understand that they have a First Amendment right to free speech and agree a reasoned and studied approach when allegations of any sort are in order."
That reasoned approach, he said, is taking place now that MU's Board of Curators has started listening to issues brought up by the Concerned Student 1950 group.
Recent racist incidents, and the perceived lack of response by administrators, led to protests by Concerned Student 1950, a student hunger strike and a threatened boycott by the football team. It culminated Nov. 9 in the resignations of University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe and Columbia campus Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.
Truth Matters MU attracted more than 700 alumni, students, parents and faculty to the Facebook page in its first three days. Jones said many supporters of his group are afraid to express their views for fear of public condemnation and harassment.
"We went out of our way to provide a safe and respectable harbor for people who felt their voices were silenced as they basically witnessed an insurrection at their beloved Mizzou," Jones said in a statement before the ban was lifted. "We used the Facebook speech tools to restrict incendiary terms that could be considered hate speech. What seems absolutely clear is that there is a cultural movement to restrict intellectual honesty."