Black mark against Facebook: Afro-Caribbean ska legend Neville Staple falls foul of blanket ban for ‘racism’

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9 June 2020

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The deep flaws in Facebook’s moderation system have been thoroughly exposed after it banned a raft of accounts connected to the ska music scene on racism grounds, including that of Neville Staple of The Specials, who is black.

Ska music, which originated in Jamaica, appears to have fallen foul of Facebook’s scattergun system because of its links to skinhead culture, which Facebook seemingly deems to be racist and worthy of a blanket ban.

Numerous ska musicians and fans, including Staple’s wife Christine, who now performs with her husband, took to Twitter to complain about their accounts having been removed and to ask Facebook for an explanation.

Neville Staple decried the development and urged Facebook to rethink its moderation policies. “Please look into things before doing a general cull. Unity runs through the veins of me and @SugaryStaple [Christine Staple] plus all our 2Tone Ska community's veins,” the ska legend wrote on Twitter.

Musician and journalist Garry Bushell blasted Facebook over the move, saying it clearly doesn’t know anything about the music genre. “If you judge people purely by their clothes & haircut, isn’t that a sign of bigotry? Perhaps they should shut themselves down,” he said.

A spokesperson for Facebook told RT.com that the social media giant is investigating the matter.

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