Estonia, Internet, Technology

In addition, Facebook imposed a new 30-day block on the personal account of Objektiiv front man Varro Vooglaid, according to information relayed by Vooglaid to LETA/ BNS.

Facebook deemed as hate speech a March 16 post which highlighted an article by Varro Vooglaid in Objektiiv titled "Seksuaalhalvikud rundasid Hollandis sodomiitliku reklaamikampaania vastu meelt avaldanud katoliiklasi" ("Sexual Deviants Attacked Catholics Protesting Against Sodomite Ad Campaign in Holland").

"The story highlighted in the post offered an overview of an incident in the town of Nijmegen where Catholics holding a peaceful and lawful demonstration were targeted by brutal verbal and also physical attacks by gay activists," Vooglaid said.

According to Objektiiv chief editor Veiko Vihur, "it is unjustifiable to justify Kafkaesque and Orwellian behavior by Facebook and other big shared media enterprises enjoying all but monopoly status with the argument of freedom of enterprise, not to mention arbitrarily employing the very vague ban on hate speech to suppress and remove an ideologically unpleasant message."

Vihur argued that such actions are carried out with the political aim "of eliminating from the public discussion ideas and opinions disliked by the political mainstream and thereby reducing the risk that conservative, nationalist or Christian forces and circles might obtain more clout in society."

Simultaneously with the warning issued to Objektiiv, Facebook on Sunday imposed a second 30-day block on Vooglaid within a short period of time. According to Vooglaid, Facebook banned him because two of his earlier posts have allegedly been deemed hate speech.

"Absurdly, one of these two posts is the same entry for which Facebook already slapped a 30-day punishment on Vooglaid in August and which was deleted back then by Facebook itself, even though it contained no hate speech on Vooglaid's part," he said.

The second post cited by Facebook is one made by Vooglaid at the beginning of March, in which he criticized, allegedly through the prism of humor, as ridiculous the inventing of ever new gender identities and displaying them as equal to being a man or a woman.

Vooglaid said that "this aggressive tipping-off campaign apparently launched by left-wing activists" will in great probability end in the shutting down of his own and maybe also Objektiiv's account, "which would not entail any particular surprise considering that freedom of speech has been losing ground in Western society already for a longer period of time and at an ever faster pace."