Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey criticized Facebook this week for temporarily suspending her campaign’s Facebook page, accusing the tech giant of political censorship.
“They’re just trying to get in the way of conservatives having the opportunity to be vocal and to practice our philosophy. And I’m just not going to have it,” Ivey said in an interview with Fox News.
Ivey had posted a statement to her campaign’s Facebook page on Sept. 10 voicing her opposition to sweeping employer vaccine mandates announced by President Joe Biden the day before, responding to comments Biden had made about getting governors who didn’t comply with the mandates “out of the way.”
“You bet I’m standing in the way. And if he thinks he’s going to move me out of the way, he’s got another thing coming,” Ivey wrote.
Facebook temporarily removed Ivey’s Facebook page for under an hour on Sept. 14, later saying the page was “mistakenly restricted for less than an hour for reasons unrelated to any posted content,” a company spokesperson told Fox.
“When we learned of our mistake, the page was quickly restored,” the spokesperson said. Ivey told Fox she didn’t buy the company’s explanation.
“I reckon they were just frustrated that I opposed the president on the issue of vaccinations,” Ivey said. “So it’s just a matter of Big Tech being against conservatives.”
Facebook told Fox the suspension was not political, claiming “our policies apply across the board regardless of a person’s political affiliation.”
An investigation by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month found that Facebook applies different content moderation standards to certain political candidates through its “cross-check” system. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered a probe Monday into the impact this uneven moderation had on state elections.
“Big Tech has just gotten out of hand. This is a free country and no level of government ought to be telling our people what they must and must not do about their health,” Ivey said . “I’ve encouraged, and will continue to encourage, people taking the vaccine.”