Instagram blocks Babylon Bee founder's cartoon comparing abortion to slavery — and calls it 'hate speech'
Adam Ford — founder of Christian satire site, The Babylon Bee — said Instagram yanked a cartoon he created that compares abortion to slavery. Instagram also labeled it "hate speech," Ford said.
Ford — now editor of the Christian Daily Reporter — suggested to CDRreaders that they should examine the "entire comic and try to ponder how in the world it could be considered 'hate speech.'"
The cartoon was eventually reinstated, but Ford said Instagram told him "nothing" in the aftermath.
The cartoon begins with a conversation between two women in the time of U.S. slavery, with one saying slavery is wrong because black people are human beings while the other woman says they aren't; it ends with the start of a modern-day conversation between the "same" two women with one of them asking, "Does abortion ever bother you?"
What else did Ford say?
"I am hardly the first person to espouse the belief (and hope) that one day society will look back on abortion with the same mortified disbelief we now have when we consider our country's history of institutionalized chattel slavery," he added to his CDR page. "Millions and millions of pro-life Americans — of all races — see the heartbreaking similarities between abortion-on-demand and the forced enslavement of human beings."
More from Ford:
"There is no way any human being could believe my comic is promoting slavery, since the two women talking are clearly identified as living 200 years ago, and the woman on the right is clearly the 'bad guy.'
"Does Instagram consider it 'hate speech' to contend for the humanity and personhood of the unborn?
"If I had published the exact same comic, but instead used it topromote abortion (i.e. 'without abortion rights, women cannot attain full equal personhood' — an argument used on the left), would it have been removed as 'hate speech'?
"I think we all know the answer to that."
What else?
The Babylon Bee — which Ford sold in 2018 — hilariously caught the attention of Snopes fact-checkers last year as well due to a piece headlined, "CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication" and labeled it "false." Duh.
"The custom-made device allows CNN reporters to load just the facts of a given issue, turn a dial to 'spin cycle,' and within five minutes, receive a nearly unrecognizable version of the story that's been spun to fit with the news station's agenda," the Bee piece noted, tongue firmly in cheek.
But that didn't stop Facebook from using the fact check to warn Ford that publishing more "disputed info" would result in demonetization and reduced viewership, the Daily Caller said.
Facebook soon apologized.
"There's a difference between false news and satire," Facebook said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. "This was a mistake and should not have been rated false in our system. It's since been corrected and won't count against the domain in any way."
