The National Rifle Association is calling out Facebook and Instagram for election interference in the wake of the social media platforms labeling posts about Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on guns “false information.”
NRA has repeatedly made posts about Harris’ dreadful record on gun control, pointing out not only her current stance but some of her past statements concerning the Second Amendment. The post that was labeled “false information” included a 2007 clip of Harris saying: “Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible.”
The caption to the clip stated, “Kamala Harris will seize your legally owned guns,” and
“Kamala Harris wants mass gun confiscation, and she’s willing to weaponize the government to enter your home and seize your legally owned gun.”
According to a recent report at Fox News, Facebook put the following disclaimer on the post: “Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact. You can choose whether to see it.” Instagram had a similar disclaimer, stating: “Third-party fact-checkers say the information in this post is false.”
As for the “false” labeling, it seems that it would be hard for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to argue that Harris didn’t say what she said about walking into citizen’s homes and checking their gun storage practices. All they had to do is watch the video posted by the NRA.
Concerning Harris’ wanting mass gun confiscation, she said as much during her 2020 presidential campaign. At the time, she specifically said she supported a “mandatory buyback program,” more accurately called “compensated confiscation.” Payment aside, confiscation is confiscation, and Harris is on the record as supporting that.
Now, Harris wants to quash any mention of her thoughts on the matter. And her media—and now, social media—enablers are doing their best to try to keep her stance on confiscation a secret.
Both disclaimers on the post link factcheck.org, itself a biased source that nearly always leans toward the anti-gun side of the debate over the Second Amendment.
“During the 2020 presidential race, then-Sen. Kamala Harris came out in support of a mandatory buyback program for so-called assault weapons,” FactCheck.org wrote. “As the current Democratic nominee for president, Harris continues to support a ban on purchasing certain semi-automatic weapons. But her campaign told us she is no longer advocating that Americans be required to give up weapons that they had legally purchased.”
Randy Kozuch, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, told Fox News that such filtering of important information just prior to an important presidential election needs to be shared with potential voters.
“In the precious few weeks left before the election, the NRA’s ability to reach key audiences is crucial,” Kozuch said. “Efforts by left-wing organizations like FactCheck.org that exploit Meta’s rules to throttle key messaging from groups like the NRA become their own information operation and come uncomfortably close to election interference.”
It will likely come as no surprise to TTAG readers that a Google search at the time of this writing revealed that not a single so-called “mainstream” media outlet covered the topic. Apparently, when curtailing First Amendment rights involves a matter on which they agree with the social media platforms, it’s easier to just look the other way.
