On Wednesday, May 22, CrossFit Inc., suspended its accounts on Facebook and Instagram. The deactivation of @crossfit, @crossfitgames and several other related accounts surprised the community and left millions of followers asking questions.
Yesterday, those questions were answered. In an article posed on crossfit.com, CrossFit HQ addressed the reasons behind removing their content from the social media giant. CrossFit writes, “CrossFit, Inc., as a voluntary user of and contributor to this marketplace, can and must remove itself from this particular manifestation of the public square when it becomes clear that such responsibilities are betrayed or reneged upon to the detriment of our community.”
In its argument, CrossFit uses the recent deletion of the Banting7DayMealPlan user group from Facebook as an example of Facebook using its power to censor and remove user accounts “based on unknown criteria and at the request of third parties including government and foreign government agencies.”
CrossFit, Inc. lists out eight reasons why Greg Glassman and his team have decided to suspend their accounts until a thorough investigation is completed. The eight reasons are:
1. Facebook collects and aggregates user information and shares it with state and federal authorities, as well as security organizations from other countries.
2. Facebook collaborates with government security agencies on massive citizen surveillance programs such as PRISM.
3. Facebook censors and removes user accounts based on unknown criteria and at the request of third parties including government and foreign government agencies.
4. Facebook collects, aggregates, and sells user information as a matter of business. Its business model allows governments and businesses alike to use its algorithmically conjured advertising categories as sophisticated data-mining and surveillance tools.
5. Facebook’s news feeds are censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s utopian socialists while remaining vulnerable to misinformation campaigns designed to stir up violence and prejudice.
6. Facebook, as a matter of business and principle, has weak intellectual property protections and is slow to close down IP theft accounts.
7. Facebook has poor security protocols and has been subject to the largest security breaches of user data in history.
And finally,
8. Facebook is acting in the service of food and beverage industry interests by deleting the accounts of communities that have identified the corrupted nutritional science responsible for unchecked global chronic disease. In this, it follows the practices of Wikipedia and other private platforms that host public content but retain the ability to remove or silence—without the opportunity for real debate or appeal—information and perspectives outside a narrow scope of belief or thought. In this case, the approved perspective has resulted in the deaths of millions through preventable diseases. Facebook is thus complicit in the global chronic disease crisis.
CrossFit has kept its Twitter accounts up and running. Both @crossfit and @crossfitgames are still active.
To read the entire official statement by CrossFit, Inc., click here.
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