A new report indicates Facebook is taking action against users who use the word “honk.”
ZeroHedge reports that “Facebook is removing the word “honk” from its platform.”
Twitter user GarbHum posted a screenshot of a Facebook notification indicating that the word “Honk” was removed because it doesn’t follow Facebook’s Community Standards.
Yes, really. pic.twitter.com/bO7l1yl4PV
— Garbage Human 🗑 (@GarbHum) June 8, 2019
It’s unclear how the word “honk” violates Facebook’s Community Standards. But it’s possible it could be an attempt to censor people who have adopted the Clown World meme.
As defined by Urban Dictionary, Clown World is “a phrase used to describe the current state of affairs in regards to the world (usually socially or politically). The word is employed as to state that something is ridiculous or nonsensical in a way, “only could this be real, in a world run by clowns (clown world).”
Facebook has been heavily criticized for their recent censorship actions which involved taking down the Bounding Into Comics Facebook Page, suspending political cartoonist and former Marvel Comics artist Mike Harris, and political cartoonist Ben Garrison among others.
This wouldn’t be the first time that a social media company has targeted people who are using memes to make a political or social point. Twitter infamously banned people for tweeting out “learn to code” back in January after a number of writers from BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post were laid off.
Twitter would admit they made mistakes regarding the “learn to code” debacle. Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde admitted, “There were for sure mistakes in there. I don’t think that any of us are claiming we got this 100% right.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also stated, “We probably were way too aggressive when we first saw this and made mistakes.” However, after making these statements, Twitter was still banning and suspending users for using the phrase “learn to code.”
What do you make of this report regarding Facebook banning the word “honk?”