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Senator’s Facebook page removed after ‘hate speech’ report

Senator Fraser Anning has previously been condemned in both houses of parliament.

Senator Fraser Anning has previously been condemned in both houses of parliament. Photo: AAP

The Facebook page of One Nation-turned-Katter’s Australia Party senator Fraser Anning has been removed, after apparently breaching the platform’s community standards.

The page and all its posts appeared to have been removed after one of Senator Anning’s posts was reported for hate speech.

The comments in question, which were reported anonymously, were in reference to the national Safe Schools program.

Senator Anning described the move by Facebook to unpublish his page as an attack on free speech.

“What we essentially have is a foreign corporation deciding what the Australian people can and cannot hear,” he said in a statement.

“The Australian public will not even be given the choice because Mark Zuckerberg has already made it for you.”

https://twitter.com/fraser_anning/status/1045530217735905280

The Senator wrote in his last post before the page was removed that Facebook was censoring conservative voices.

“We have seen the ongoing censorship of conservative political commentators like Avi [Yemeni] and myself,” it read.

The Senator was sharply criticised last month by fellow parliamentarians when he used the phrase “final solution” during his maiden speech while discussing Muslim immigration, a term associated with the Holocaust.

Supporters have taken to Facebook to share their outrage of the page’s removal.

Mr Yemeni, a conservative activist whose Facebook page has also been removed for reported hate speech, said the ban was a sign of Facebook “meddling in Australian politics” and part of a wider “purge”.

“They are picking only on conservatives,” Mr Yemeni said.

Anti-Islamic group Reclaim Australia also criticised the move as political in a post.

“Anyone with a differing opinion is banned and silenced,” the post read.

Facebook has been contacted for comment.

-ABC

Topics: Facebook
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