Amid accusations that Facebook employs secretive content policing strategies, which critics say disproportionately impact conservative users, the social media giant is now being accused of removing posts that describe Gustavo Perez Arriaga — the man police accuse of murdering California police officer Ronil Singh — as an "illegal immigrant."
What are the details?
According to Blue Lives Matter, Facebook has informed multiple users that posts declaring "Arriaga" to be an "illegal immigrant" or "illegal alien" violate the platform's community rules for "hate speech."
In one instance, a user posted a picture with Singh and Arriaga side-by-side. Above and below Singh's picture were the words "vetted legal immigrant" and "protector" while the words "unvetted illegal immigrant" and "[alleged] murderer" were above and below Arriaga's.
Facebook removed the image.
"This photo goes against our Community Standards on hate speech," Facebook told the user.
Image source: Blue Lives Matter
Meanwhile, another Facebook user who posted Singh's picture and referred to Arriaga as an "illegal alien" — a standard phrase used to refer to illegal immigrants — was similarly reprimanded for "hate speech."
Image source: Blue Lives Matter
TheBlaze has reached out to Facebook, but did not hear back as of press time.