Facebook is censoring posts and videos that it has decided “support” Kyle Rittenhouse and has designated the accused Kenosha gunman a dangerous individual, before there has been a trial.
Conservative YouTuber Mark Dice told numerous news outlets and his own social-media followers Wednesday that Facebook had threatened to suspend his page over a video of Mr. Rittenhouse.
“Facebook just removed a video I posted showing Kyle Rittenhouse offering help to a wounded protester in Kenosha and are threatening to delete my entire account,” he wrote on Twitter as he posted the video there.
Newsbusters, Breitbart News and other conservative news outlets picked up the threat and, in a statement to Breitbart, the social media behemoth defended its actions and de-facto convicted Mr. Rittenhouse.
“We’ve designated the shooting in Kenosha a mass murder and are removing posts in support of the shooter, including this one,” a Facebook spokesman said.
According to Mr. Dice, he also was told by Facebook that “we don’t allow symbols, praise or support of dangerous individuals or organizations on Facebook.”
However, as a Media Research Center analysis pointed out, “while Rittenhouse is certainly accused of murder, he has not been convicted of murder.”
Videos of the Kenosha riots seem to show Rittenhouse shooting people, but some also show that he did so while fleeing a mob of attackers. A self-defense claim is considered likely to come at trial.
Objective news outlets are always careful, prior to a trial verdict, to avoid language that convicts people — calling them “murder suspects” or “accused in a robbery” rather than, say, “murderers” or “robbers.”
Mr. Dice also denied praising Mr. Rittenhouse in his Facebook, saying on Twitter that “in no way did I ’glorify’ or celebrate him, nor ’praise’ him. I simply posted a non-graphic video, and stated as a matter of fact what it showed.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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