Facebook-owned Instagram banned Congressman Craig Kelly the day after the company banned MPs on Facebook.
Prior to Kelly’s Instagram ban, politicians announced his plans to propose a bill to curb the power of big tech companies like Facebook.
The bill is based on a similar law recently passed in Florida, where social media companies are punished for removing politicians from the platform, and criminals are about 100,000 against a state-wide ban on candidates. Expected to be fined for dollars.
“The market power of foreign-dominated engineers and their ability to censor political speech is an imminent and direct threat to our democracy,” Kelly told The Epoch Times.
Facebook has banned the main page of Congressman Craig Kelly following a controversial COVID-19-related post that was deemed not in line with official health guidelines.
However, according to Kelly, Facebook has not responded to his request for information about which post led to the suspension of his account.
“They don’t even give courtesy to reply,” Kelly said.
Previously, Kelly had posted several posts that shared data supporting information that did not follow Australia’s official health guidelines and linked to research.
Kelly denied allegations that his post disseminated “wrong information” and said his post was merely a reflection of research done by scientists not only in Australia but around the world.
“Everything I post is 100% backed by the science, evidence and expert opinion of the best people around the world,” Kelly said.
“I’m quoting doctors and medical professionals who have different opinions than other doctors and medical professionals. That doesn’t make it false information. It’s a different opinion.” Said Kelly.
“A society where someone who has a different opinion to you is disseminating false information is a fascist, totalitarian society.”
It’s unclear why Kelly was specifically banned, but some of his recent posts include reports of rare blood clots after AstraZeneca vaccination both in Australia and abroad.
Kelly also posted a post linking to data supporting COVID-19, ivermectin as an alternative treatment for an unapproved drug. Australian Government Ministry of Health Due to insufficient evidence.
by Monash University, A peer-reviewed study in Australia in April 2020 showed that a single dose of ivermectin could block the growth of SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell cultures, but was not approved due to lack of clinical trials. did.
In the post, Kelly linked Ivermectin analysis website It lists 52 studies, 24 of which have been peer-reviewed, detailing the effects of ivermectin on the early and late treatment of COVID-19.
Kelly also proposed a “no vaccine passport” bill and made other statements, including opposition to the need for children to wear masks. This is a statement that has caused a backlash from the media.
A few months later, Kelly American Institute of Economic Research (AIER), YouTube said it has deleted the video linked to AIER, including comments from Professor Martin Kludorf of Harvard University.
“Children shouldn’t wear face masks,” Kurdoff said. “They don’t need it to protect themselves, and they don’t need it to protect others.”
Kelly resigned from the Liberal Party in February and joined the crossbench after pressured the government for his view of COVID-19 treatment, which was not approved by the Ministry of Health.
Kelly also made regular posts condemning the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in Australia, including criticizing the Belt and Road Initiative in Australia and the Confucius Institute.
Kelly is one of the biggest engagements among Australian politicians on Facebook, earning about 1 million engagements a month.
“It’s just a horrifying situation for a foreign entity like Facebook to censor an elected Australian parliamentarian,” Kelly said.
“A society where Facebook is a true arbitrator is a very dangerous society.”
Daniel Y. Teng of AAP contributed to this report.