Free States Militia is a role-playing group focused on Fallout 76. It was banned on Facebook last year for being too close to reality in its role-playing. Now the group has faced another ban. They are changing their home now. Facebook has since apologized.
Update January 22: As reported by PCGames N, Facebook has since apologized again to the group and has unbanned them. The statement reads:
The groups and associated admins were mistakenly banned and have now been restored. We apologize for the inconvenience.
We encourage anyone who believes we made a mistake to report that mistake.
Why was the group banned back then? Free States Militia is a role-playing group centered around the game Fallout 76. In October 2020, the group was removed from Facebook without explanation. However, after some complaints, the bans were lifted.
Back then, Facebook stated:
We apologize for mistakenly removing the Fallout 76 group and have since restored the accounts of the group and the admins.
The group members suspected they might have come under Facebook’s scrutiny because of their name. Exactly during that time, there were protests surrounding the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The word “Militia” might have been a trigger in this case.
However, the admins of the group chose to remain on Facebook. They justified it by saying it was the easiest platform to reach thousands of people.
What has happened now? As reported by Polygon, Free States Militia has been banned on Facebook again. The members suspect this time that the unrest surrounding the Capitol riots contributed to it.
Once again, there is no official explanation from Facebook. It simply states:
You can no longer comment until February 7. You have posted multiple things that do not meet our community standards.
To avoid getting banned again, they are now changing their platform. In the future, the group plans to meet on Discord.
“The Facebook page is 100% related to Fallout”
What do the admins say about the ban? In an interview with Polygon, the founder Bobby emphasizes that the role-playing group only refers to the world of Fallout:
The Facebook page is 100% related to Fallout. I would say 90% of the page consists of lore. We write our stories in line with the 76th faction of the Free States Militia. 5% are group events and 5% are in-game photos. [We write] about our individual characters and their adventures in the wasteland.
They originally suspected that the word “Militia” was the problem. Therefore, they circumvented this with spellings like “m
What is the problem with Facebook? Many private groups on Facebook used the platform to exchange ideas among themselves and with like-minded individuals. Nevertheless, these groups are not a lawless zone.
Facebook therefore responded and announced changes on September 17, 2020, to reduce “harmful content and misinformation”.
Moreover, organizations and movements that pose a “significant risk to public safety” have been examined, including militia organizations and groups that support violence in protests. That is exactly what may have unintentionally affected Free State Militia in this case.
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