"It wasn't polemical"
After AfD/Trump Post: Meta Bans Mayor
Since Tuesday, Styrian SPÖ Mayor Martin Weber has been banned from major online platforms. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp: Nothing works anymore. The Styrian suspects a post about the AfD with a Trump reference is behind it.
Kronen Zeitung als bevorzugte Google-Quelle hinzufügen For many, everyday life without WhatsApp is almost unimaginable—especially for the mayor of a small town with 1,100 residents who needs to communicate constantly. But these days, the best way to reach Martin Weber—SPÖ local chairman from Tieschen in southeastern Styria and a former member of the Federal Council—is via a good old-fashioned text message. His accounts on Facebook and Instagram have also been suspended.
What happened? Following the far-right AfD’s triumph in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Weber wrote a post on Monday in which he argued that the party should provide the minister-president in the future. The gist of it: The voter is always right; now the AfD must deliver.
He argued that rival parties should stop fielding candidates who don’t resonate with the public—and then cited Joe Biden as an example, claiming he had contributed to Donald Trump’s reelection. “The post was factual, not polemical. That wouldn’t be my style,” Weber told the “Krone.”
Accounts were deleted within a few hours
The exact wording can no longer be found, as Weber’s Facebook account—which had no fewer than 5,000 friends—has been “permanently deactivated.” Last Tuesday at 9:32 a.m., a message arrived from Facebook: “Your Facebook account has been suspended because your account or its activities violate our policies regarding who is allowed to use Facebook.” What exactly did that mean? It’s unclear. A few minutes later, another email followed, announcing restrictions on advertising activities.
With the click of a button, he could request a review. “Of course, I did that,” Weber said. But at 11:17 a.m., the bad news arrived: “The review was unsuccessful. Your Facebook account will be permanently deactivated.” The mayor can no longer use Instagram and WhatsApp either, both of which are part of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta group. The reason is unclear, but the AfD/Trump post seems like a likely explanation.
Preparing an Appeal with a Lawyer
The SPÖ politician is now taking action against Meta with attorney Dieter Neger and plans to file an appeal with the broadcasting authority RTR. “We’ll see how the matter develops,” Weber said. For him, the situation is extremely unpleasant: “I’ve already been asked if I’m on vacation because nobody’s heard from me...”
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
Hinweis in eigener Sache: Das krone.at-Forum präsentiert sich ab sofort in neuem Design! Wir freuen uns über konstruktives Feedback. Damit die Diskussionen in den Kommentarbereichen beim jeweiligen Thema bleiben, können Sie uns Rückmeldungen hier hinterlassen.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.