NEW YORK — The YouTube sensations known as Diamond and Silk, former Democrats who left the party to support President Donald Trump, called on the Trump administration to probe social media giants over allegations of singling out certain political viewpoints.
The outspoken pro-Trump duo made the call two days after they took to their Facebook page on Friday to say that they were informed by Facebook that the Internet giant deemed their content and videos to be “unsafe to the community.”
Diamond and Silk allege their reach on Facebook has been minimized and that a large number of their followers on the platform no longer receive notifications for new posts.
Facebook did not immediately return a Breitbart News request for comment on the issue.
Like other Internet giants, Facebook is a private company and users are subject to the platform’s content policies. Diamond and Silk, however, alleged that they are being singed out due to their pro-Trump views.
They addressed the issue Sunday in an interview on this reporter’s talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM in Philadelphia.
With Silk chiming in approvingly, Diamond suggested a government investigation of social media giants.
“I don’t believe in big government, but I do believe that maybe our government should look at the social media platforms,” Diamond said. “Because let me tell you something, they dominate about 90% of the world now. Think about that. I’m talking about the world. Not just the United States. I’m talking about the world. So that means that they can silence your voice and it will only be one point of view and that is dangerous.”
“I call that dictatorship. So, I believe that maybe the government should start looking at these here entities and maybe I don’t think regulate them, but if they see you violating someone’s free speech now you are in trouble.”
Diamond noted that “a lot of people say that Facebook is a private company and they can do whatever they want to do. But it is open to the public and everybody is supposed to be treated the same.”
On Friday, Diamond and Silk posted on their Facebook page that the social media platform labeled their content “unsafe to the community.”
“Diamond And Silk have been corresponding since September 7, 2017, with Facebook (owned by Mark Zuckerberg), about their bias censorship and discrimination against D&S brand page,” they wrote.
“Finally after several emails, chats, phone calls, appeals, beating around the bush, lies, and giving us the run around, Facebook gave us another bogus reason why Millions of people who have liked and/or followed our page no longer receives notification and why our page, post and video reach was reduced by a very large percentage.”
“Here is the reply from Facebook. Thu, Apr 5, 2018 at 3:40 PM: ‘The Policy team has came to the conclusion that your content and your brand has been determined unsafe to the community.’”
“Yep, this was FB conclusion after 6 Months, 29 days, 5 hrs, 40 minutes and 43 seconds. Oh and guess what else Facebook said: “This decision is final and it is not appeal-able in any way.” (Note: This is the exact wording that FB emailed to us.)”
In the same post, Diamond and Silk then posed the following questions to Facebook:
1. What is unsafe about two Blk-women supporting the President Donald J. Trump?
2. Our FB page has been created since December 2014, when exactly did the content and the brand become unsafe to the community?
3. When you say “community” are you referring to the Millions who liked and followed our page?
4. What content on our page was in violation?
5. If our content and brand was so unsafe to the community, why is the option for us to boost our content and spend money with FB to enhance our brand page still available? Maybe FB should give us a refund since FB censored our reach.
6. Lastly, didn’t FB violate their own policy when FB stopped sending notifications to the Millions of people who liked and followed our brand page?
Speaking on this reporter’s show, Diamond said Facebook did not provide her and Silk with any specific examples of purportedly unsafe content.
Diamond stated: “They told us nothing about what was unsafe about our content… And I want you to realize something, Aaron. When they are talking about our brand, you are not talking about a cup or a shirt. They are talking about Diamond and Silk, which happens to be human beings. Two black women. We are not animals. We are not thugs.”
“You are talking about two people here when you say Diamond and Silk. We are the brand. So, when you say things like we are ‘not safe’ for the community what are you trying to say? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to demonize us into something? Are you stereotyping us? What are you trying to do here? Because this doesn’t feel right. This here feels like racism. The left always cries racism. I see racism right here.”
This is not the first time Diamond and Silk say they have faced questionable practices by Internet giants. Last August, they accused YouTube of demonetizing some of their videos due to the content.
.@YouTube @TeamYouTube stopped over 95% percent of our videos from being monetized, stating: “It’s Not Suitable For All Advertisers”…….. pic.twitter.com/qDpaL8A4ec
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) August 10, 2017
Wonder if @YouTube @TeamYouTube stopped the monetization of our videos because we are loyal supporters of the @POTUS ….Hummmm……….. pic.twitter.com/QNgy0384hQ
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) August 10, 2017
YouTube responded by providing instructions on how to appeal new controls and guidelines regarding advertising:
.@YouTube @TeamYouTube stopped over 95% percent of our videos from being monetized, stating: “It’s Not Suitable For All Advertisers”…….. pic.twitter.com/qDpaL8A4ec
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) August 10, 2017
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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