The Liberty Conservative earlier today posted an article about a bizarre Twitter rant Cato Institute vice president Brink Lindsey engaged in on Wednesday. Lindsey was outraged about that there Ron Paul; apparently it’s somehow cosmically socially unjust that Ron Paul is more widely known and respected than Brink Lindsey, and Lindsey wants us all to understand that real libertarianism consists of world wars, government-managed trade "agreements," and presumably also forcing people to bake cakes, though Lindsey himself was rather silent on that important point.
So that’s as may be. I was planning to write up a few hundred sarcastic words and throw it in Last Week in Weird. But then a funny thing happened on the way to the bookmarks: I shared the story on Facebook, which promptly earned me a 24-hour ban. And that’s not just me: apparently anybody who shares this particular story on Facebook is banned from "creating open graph actions" for twenty-four hours. What is an "open graph action?" It is a mystery!
While the wording is impenetrably bureaucratic, some people claim this ban prevents the banned from posting any other links; I’ve been able to post links successfully, though, so who knows. Whatever it does, I can confirm that the thing occurs. As for why this is happening, I have no real idea; no information is provided along with the ban notification, and Facebook has made no public statements. In addition, the article itself is pretty unremarkable; it’s pretty much just calm, well-mannered libertarian infighting, and doesn’t pose any threat to any of Facebook’s herd of sacred cattle. Sure, that awful, two-column, print-newspaper-envying, scroll-up-and-down-and-up-and-down-ing layout is pretty offensive, but come on! Even considering that, this still isn’t the most offensive thing I’ve posted on Facebook today, much less ever.
As of press time, I’m unable to confirm (because I’m already banned) whether or not this problem impacts people who share other articles from the Liberty Conservative, or just this one. Regardless: shame on you, Facebook. This article is not spam, it is not "fake news," and it is not even particularly controversial.