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Facebook censors 'Save The Children' hashtag, Angry Internet slams Zuckerberg for 'normalizing pedophilia'

Though no official word has been out on why the hashtag was not working, some people said the hashtag came with some 'disturbing photos and pages' on the social media platform

Mark Zuckerberg is facing the heat once more when it comes to blocking relevant Facebook hashtags. Since August 5, Facebook users are noticing that a hashtag with the phrase “Save the Children” (#SavetheChildren) was allegedly being censored on the social networking site. Although statuses with the hashtag could still be posted, clicking on the hashtag did not show any results as noticed by users. In some cases, as reported on the Heavy Website, “a warning about community safety guidelines” appears. 

Though the site claimed that the “hashtag may be restored”, it worked for Heavy, but some Facebook users are telling Heavy that the hashtag is still censored for them.
Heavy mentioned that the hashtag is “working again as of 12 am Eastern Time on Thursday, August 6," but it’s not clear whether it's a permanent or temporary change.

Though no official word has been out on why the hashtag was not working, some people said the hashtag came with some “disturbing photos and pages”. It is being speculated that the hashtag may have been auto-censored due to photos that were tagged with it and after being allegedly reported on such posts. Sometimes, hashtags associated with QAnon are sometimes included with the #SavetheChildren hashtag, which could have led to the posts being censored. In May, Facebook banned some QAnon pages for manipulation, while in July Facebook was still allowing some QAnon political ads, reports Heavy.

Anyhow, people on the Internet are treating the censoring of the “Save the Children” hashtag as “unreal” and rebuking Zuckerberg and Facebook for this. They allegedly accused the social media platform of “protecting child sex traffickers”. This is not the first time Zuckerberg is being called out for something like this, during the George Floyd protests, his decision not to act against posts by President Donald Trump, in which the president alluded to committing violence against protesters was heavily criticized.

“Facebook is now censoring posts with the hashtag #SaveTheChildren.Why are they protecting child sex traffickers?”, tweeted a user. Another one tweeted, “#SaveTheChildren has been blocked by Facebook...this is unreal.”

Some are ridiculing Zuckerberg that maybe he has “accidentally blocked the hashtag #savethechildren instead of all that child pornography floating around.” People are complaining that there are several degenerative pages on Facebook that are still there and promoting pornography. Others are of the belief that “Facebook is censoring a movement dedicated to stopping the trafficking of children”.

“Hey @markzucky I think you accidentally blocked the hashtag #savethechildren instead of all that child pornography floating around. Can you put in a help ticket to IT or something since you can’t figure it out maybe they can. Thanks !,” tweeted a user.

Another said Facebook was “normalizing Pedophilia” tweets, “Pedophilia isn't a sexual preference... stop normalizing pedophilia #SaveTheChildren also, facebook is censoring a movement dedicated to stopping the trafficking of children... makes me want to puke”.

A journalist Carmine Sabia tweeted that, “Facebook is censoring #SaveTheChildren posts and will not remove a page exploiting underage boys. Hollywood and the rich and powerful are not speaking because they are involved in it. He shared a report where a page called “Cute Boys” that allegedly posts “real criminal activities” kind of messages. The page remains active despite reports and controversies. 

Some users went to the extent of saying that “Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is involved with the child trafficking ring... Why else would he want to protect the hashtag #savethechildren” as read in a tweet. Others tweeted that, “#SaveTheChildren is trending. Sounds like a good thing, but it’s a QAnon hashtag to get people to think they’re all about fighting the trafficking of children. Oddly enough they only talk about Bill Clinton and Hollywood. They never talk about this. Quote Tweet”.

Some people are still not able to decipher the reason behind the blocking of the hashtag. People are tweeting wondering why Facebook would not be in favor of this idea of protecting children. “What are they protecting? That’s a very difficult position to defend and they are not stupid, so, there’s something really wrong behind this decision. How can they not be on favor of this idea?!!”, read a tweet.

Others are lashing out at Facebook. They tweet that Facebook blocking #SAVETHECHILDREN this is so “f***ed up”. “Facebook blocked #SAVETHECHILDREN this is so f***ed up. CHILD SEX TRACKING IS NOT A CONSPIRACY IT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! WAKE UP AND LETS CHANGE THIS”, read a tweet.