Facebook reinstates 'NJ Women for Trump' group with 29,000 members and admits to 'enforcement error' after President flagged that it had been taken down without reason
Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed a New Jersey women's group with 29,000 supporters of the president was being 'restored immediately' to Facebook.
The private group had been taken down without warning or explanation, according to its directors. '@Facebook Put them back NOW!', the president tweeted early Sunday morning.
He later added: 'Being restored immediately. @Facebook stated that they made an “enforcement error”. Thank you!'
A spokesperson for Facebook told DailyMail.com: 'This group was removed in error and we have since restored it.' The CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google were all forced to rebuff accusations of anti-conservative bias at a Senate hearing last Wednesday.
Co-director of New Jersey Women For Trump, Priscilla Confrey, had told NJ.com: 'Three days before Election Day? That is absolutely appalling. I just think these companies, these social media groups, have too much power.
'They offer to you to open up a group on their social media platform, and you could have 30,000 members, and they shut it down without telling you anything.'
Co-director of New Jersey Women For Trump, Priscilla Confrey, center, told NJ.com : 'Three days before Election Day? That is absolutely appalling. I just think these companies, these social media groups, have too much power'
Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed a New Jersey women's group with 29,000 supporters of the president was being 'restored immediately' to Facebook
The private group was taken down without explanation, according to directors; '@Facebook Put them back NOW!', the president tweeted early Sunday morning
Confrey said the site had flagged some posts on her page, relating to COVID, but says that she removed them from the site.
She added: 'People are really, really mad. When you have that many people and they're shut down, they feel silenced.
'It was a lot of work over the past year for a private group to just be shut down without notification.'
By Sunday morning, a new page had also been set up; it had more than 11,000 followers.
Republicans, led by Trump, have accused the social media platforms, of deliberately suppressing conservative views.
They say that behavior has reached new heights in the contest between the president and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Republicans have criticized a move by Facebook and Twitter to limit dissemination of the New York Post's story about Hunter Biden.
The story cited emails from Biden's son Hunter that were reportedly disclosed by Trump allies.
One of the co-directors, Priscilla Confrey, called the move 'absolutely appalling' 'People are really, really mad...they feel silenced', she added. The CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google were all forced to rebuff accusations of anti-conservative bias last Wednesday
Confrey, front and center, said the site had flagged some posts on her page, relating to COVID, but says that she removed them from the site. She added: 'People are really, really mad. When you have that many people and they're shut down, they feel silenced'
'Twitter's conduct has by far been the most egregious,' Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last week.
Cruz cited Twitter's limitations on the newspaper story as part of 'a pattern of censorship and silencing Americans with whom Twitter disagrees.'
'Who the hell elected you? And put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report?' Cruz asked.