Photo Credit: Adrenochrome
Facebook’s crackdown on QAnon conspiracies has destroyed the social media presence for Adrenochrome – a punk rock band.
Members of the Oakland-based punk rock group, say they were taken by surprise by the censorship. Facebook completely disabled the band’s page, along with three of their personal accounts. Another page for the booking business run by the band’s singer and drummer was also targeted. Each of these pages contained mentions of the punk rock band, Adrenochrome.
What is Adrenochrome?
The word refers to oxidized adrenaline and was popularized by Hunter Thompson in the ’70s. Marie and her bandmates picked the name for their band years before QAnon started incorporating the chemical into their conspiracy theories. The band Adrenochrome chose the name as a shout-out to a song by the British band Sisters of Mercy.
But ‘adrenochrome‘ itself is a central pillar of the QAnon conspiracies circulating on Facebook. Followers of QAnon believer Hunter Thompson’s fictionalized idea that adrenochrome is an intoxicating substance. They believe it is being harvested from children by a ‘deep-state cabal.’
The four members of the Adrenochrome band have nothing to do with the QAnon conspiracies. None of the band members have discussed QAnon online. “Other than receiving occasional (unsolicited and unwanted) Facebook messages from QAnon followers confused about their band name,” writes the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Facebook killed the Adrenochrome band’s social media presence on January 29. Then again three more times.
“I had 2,300 friends on Facebook, a lot of people I’d met on tour,” Marie says. “Some of these people I don’t know how to reach anymore. I had wedding photos and baby photos that I didn’t have copies of anywhere else.” None of the banned members have access to their Facebook accounts anymore. It’s become part of a crackdown with some glaringly obvious false positives.
Content moderation at Facebook’s scale is impossible to do with 100% accuracy. But teaching an algorithm that the word ‘adrenochrome’ is always bad leads to these practices. It means literary groups on Facebook may not be able to discuss Hunter Thompson’s works without fear of a false positive. It means fans of Adrenochrome the band can’t talk about their music on social media.
Adrenochrome had to reach out to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for help on restoring their account.
Facebook didn’t give the band any reason why the page was taken down. They also didn’t provide any way for the members to appeal their case with a human. All Facebook provides is a notice that the account is disabled and will be permanently deleted within 30 days. Facebook advises users to ‘login’ to the Help Center to submit more information. But banned accounts cannot do that.
the soviets would be proud as hell
Zzzz.
Facistbook purges people they don’t like? I’m shocked… said no one ever.
So much for 1st amendment to the constitution. Look on the Q anon fan but they have a right to say whatever they want! It’s not the people I agree with I have to support the people I don’t agree with. Those thoughts are not mine to turn off. Welcome to the site Police.
On a legal issue however Facebook is now a publisher not a public forum and with being a publisher comes certain legal right and no longer safe harbor for the digital millennium copyright act.
I wish someone in Congress would have Enough gumption to trust bust this new gilded age of digital robber baron.
But we do have a generation of pacified pussies. Probably would be upset with that one.
You obviously don’t understand that the 1A only protects US citizens from gov’t interference in speech. Facebook is not a gov’t agency. It’s an advertising network.
You also obviously don’t understand that the DMCA has nothing to do with this. It’s the CDA that does. CDA 230 protects Facebook from being considered a publisher unless they’ve commissioned the content themselves, which they don’t do because Facebook doesn’t create anything themselves. That’s literally their business model: exploit other people’s labor.
The FCC regulates speech for private businesses.
Facebook is the new third reich. I am sure they will ban anyone who refused to wear a brownshirt soon.
Do you leftist morons not see how dangerous this censorship is? It is the EXACT same tactic taken by Hitler.
It’s amazing how you choose your different screen names to post lunatic ideas and thoughts. You must be a lonely, little punk ass bitch leading a sad, pathetic life.
Loofa my stretchmarks, Danny?