Facebook censors libertarian Ron Paul amid Big Tech purge

Former Texas congressman Ron Paul says he’s been blocked from using his Facebook page for unspecified violations of “community standards” as Big Tech purges users following last week’s Capitol riot.

Paul, a libertarian leader and critic of President Trump, tweeted a screenshot of his temporarily restricted Facebook page.

“With no explanation other than ‘repeatedly going against our community standards,’ @Facebook has blocked me from managing my page. Never have we received notice of violating community standards in the past and nowhere is the offending post identified,” Paul tweeted.

His most recent post linked to an article he wrote denouncing “shocking and chilling” censorship on social media.

Paul, 85, unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012 as an anti-war, pro-civil liberties candidate. His son is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who opposed Trump’s request to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral win and called Trump’s pre-riot speech “irresponsible.“

In response to his father being censored, Sen. Paul tweeted, “Facebook now considers advocating for liberty to be sedition. Where will it end?”

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although his son sought to work with and influence Trump, the elder Paul remained an often fiery critic. He opposed Trump’s foreign and immigration policies, and said a Mexico border wall might be used for “keeping us in.” He mused about Trump being vulnerable to a challenge in 2020.

Some civil libertarians are concerned about fallout from the Capitol riot, which disrupted but did not prevent certification of Biden’s victory.

Since the violence on Capitol Hill, which killed four Trump supporters and a policeman, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon have moved to limit the reach of Trump’s supporters and alleged conspiracy theorist accounts.

Twitter permanently banned Trump on Friday after Facebook said he would lose control of his account through at least Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. As Trump supporters migrated to “free speech” social network Parler, Apple and Google yanked the app and Amazon dropped its hosting of the platform.