Palin Facebook Post Briefly Censored by Detractors

Company says rant against mosque in downtown Manhattan did not violate standards

Former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin took to Facebook once again to broadcast a message to supporters, issuing a response to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a debate over building a mosque in downtown Manhattan on what Palin termed "hallowed ground" near the former World Trade Center.

"To build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks," Palin claimed, leading one supporter to add "IT IS A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT MUSLIMS BUILD MOSQUES NEAR THERE CONGUERED AREAS OF WAR AND ANYWHERE ELSE THEY MAY HAVE TRIUMPHED."

Because, naturally, Facebook is the greatest place in the world to hold nuanced conversations about the merits of religious freedom.

The debate about the mosque aside, Facebook managed to find itself dragged into the fight when an online call went out on Tumblr, a blogging service popular with New Yorkers, to report Palin's post as inappropriate "hate speech" seemed to prove successful. Brian Ries runs the moneyries tumblr account and is an occasional contributor to sister site NBC New York.

"I’m pretty sure we f**king did it! 756 likes and reblogs later, Sarah Palin’s Facebook note “has either been deleted, or does not exist.” SHE HAS BEEN REFUDIATED!!!"

The post has since been re-published, with the update "The original post of this statement (on July 20, 2010) was somehow unintentionally deleted by mistake or technical glitch."

After looking into the matter, Facebook determined "The note in question did not violate our content standards but was removed by an automated system," though that statement doesn't indicate if it was direct action on the part of detractors, or an automated or employee flag.

So, three cheers for the constitutional right to freedom of speech, at least!

Jackson West wonders if only kosher hot dog carts will be allowed to sling franks on such hallowed ground.

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