Facebook, Instagram Anti-Hunting Censorship Exposed, Says SCI

If you’re a hunter or shooter who uses social media, then chances are you’ve suspected for a long time that Facebook and Instagram have a campaign of anti-hunting censorship. Yesterday, Safari Club International (SCI) CEO W. Laird Hamberlin sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling out the social media giant for its deliberate and ongoing censorship of The Hunting Consortium Inc. And this time, there’s proof.

Long-time social-media users have a name for it: “Getting Zucc’d,” in honor of Zuckerberg’s name. That’s when Facebook either suspends your account or hides your posts…sometimes without notifying you that it’s happened, and generally without any recourse. As a private company, Facebook isn’t subject to the First Amendment the way the government is…but that doesn’t mean that the heavy hand of censorship shouldn’t get whacked across the knuckles. Here’s the letter SCI sent:

The Hunting Consortium

This past summer, SCI became aware of a specific incident involving The Hunting Consortium’s social media accounts wherein Facebook had, with no notice or explanation, deleted upwards of 1,000 photos and severely limited the ability of Facebook and Instagram users to interact with and/or share content related to The Hunting Consortium.

SCI, in partnership with The Hunting Consortium, has been attempting to contact Facebook about this issue since July but has yet to be given a response. As a global operation conducting lawful business across many different countries, The Hunting Consortium relies heavily on social media to participate in a competitive industry.

Facebook’s unexplained censorship of this company has not only had and will continue to have a negative impact on The Hunting Consortium’s business, but also poses a threat to hunters worldwide who use social media for personal or business reasons. Simply put, an attack on one hunter by this tech giant is an attack on the lifestyle and traditions we all love as outdoor sportsmen and women.

You can read the full text of SCI’s letter here. (Warning to mobile users: This is a .pdf file.)

What about you, readers? Have you ever been Zucc’d? You should probably tell us in the comments here…because if you try it on Facebook, we probably won’t see them.