Update:
Following pressure from the news outlet effected and public criticism online, Facebook has restored a short documentary-style video about Christopher Columbus that it had blocked earlier in the week.
“Victory!” declared Double Down News, who had produced the piece. “Facebook have reinstated our video.”
While the social media giant did not offer a reason for why the video had been blocked, they did apologize to DDN for having done so and stated, “it’s look like we’ve made a mistake.”
Originally:
With nothing but a vague “violation of community standards” note and offering no ability to appeal the decision, Facebook has once again blocked a piece of critical journalism—this time a short documentary video depicting the brutal legacy of Christopher Columbus—from its global online platform.
“Monbiot’s piece of video journalism was about the airbrushing of history; therefore, there is a great irony in the fact it has now been airbrushed from their platform.” —Yannis Mendez, Double Down News
The short video—produced by Double Down News and titled “The true legacy of Christopher Columbus: ‘Western Civilisation'”—features author and journalist George Monbiot recounting the infamous European explorer’s history of subjugation and brutalization of the Indigenous people he encountered when he arrived in the so-called “New World” in the late 15th Century.
After being up for more than a week, and raking up more than 900,000 views, DNN co-founder Yannis Mendez says the video, “a serious piece of historical journalism,” was deleted by Facebook on Tuesday without warning, a specific reason, or any avenue of recourse.
In the piece, Mendez explains, Monbiot “recounts the horrors of history in vivid detail. Therefore, at times, we understand the film may have been uncomfortable for some to watch. A number of visuals used, taken from the film 1492 and historical documentary footage, were graphic in nature. Facebook could have opted to put a warning screen on the video, which we would of had no problem with.”
As of this writing, the video remains deleted from Facebook—it was originally posted at this link—and its producers have been given no further explanation for why it was taken down. The video remains available on YouTube.
Watch [warning, some may find the footage graphic or troubling]: