Facebook to apologise for banning Christian evangelist in US

After being accused of censoring free speech, Facebook is apologising for banning a Christian evangelist in the US from posting on the social network for a day last week, a media report said.

Calling the decision to ban Franklin Graham for a 2016 post, Facebook has restored the post, The Charlotte Observer reported on Saturday.

Graham said he was banned for a post about North Carolina's House Bill 2, also known as the bathroom bill.

Facebook said the post went against their "community standards on hate speech."

In his 2016 post, Graham targeted singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen for canceling a North Carolina concert because of House Bill 2.

"He says the NC law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women's restrooms and locker rooms is going 'backwards instead of forwards,'" Graham said in his 2016 post, referring to Springsteen.

"Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honouring His commands."

A Facebook spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer, that the social network will apologise in a note to the administrator of Graham's Facebook page.

A member of Facebook's content review team had mistakenly decided the post violated Facebook's policy that bans "dehumanising language" and excluding people based on sexual orientation, race and other factors, according to the spokesperson.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Graham accused the social network of "trying to define truth" and "censoring free speech".

--IANS

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