Facebook has been on a mission to silence our message and the release of court-verified data from the beginning. The things we have been through to get our message out have been tough enough. And for Facebook to continue to stand in our way and block us from sharing our content, well, it’s made the road much harder than it already was. However, we aren’t letting it get us down. We’re continuing to publish the details and chronicle the events of corruption in Arizona; with our without the blessing of Facebook.
What Has Facebook Been Doing?
Wow. Where do we begin? Well, let’s talk about the positives before we get into the negatives. Over the past year or so, Saving Grace Advocates has begun releasing damning data and court testimony about those involved in the Arizona CPS corruption scandal which caused Governor Jan Brewer to shut down the organization in 2014.
You may remember that back in July, we had a 300% increase in site traffic and began to see our efforts paying off. It was at that time that we begin to think about boosting some of our blog posts and running ads on Facebook. This is where we began to run into trouble.
You see, Facebook has recently changed its rules about running ads related to social and political issues. Of course, this was meant to combat election fraud. It was not (at least directly) intended to silence dissenting opinions and hide the truth from the American public. However, that’s exactly what Facebook has been doing.
Verifying our Identification
The Boosted Post
When we attempted to boost our first post, it was denied, despite the fact that Facebook had “recommended” we do so. Odd, right? So we looked into seeing what the issue was and we were informed about this new policy. For those who aren’t aware, the process to verify your account to Facebook can take as long as a week… normally. Bad news for anyone attempting to share relevant information that may have little to no impact days later. Still, we decided to move forward. After all, we may not be able to boost our most recent article, but we would need to boost others in the future.
What happened next was a complete nightmare. We went through the whole process of verifying our information and address. This took a few days. Then, Facebook asked us to upload images of our Government-issued identification cards. We did so as well. However, they begin to deny our identity. We attempted to do this with multiple images, closeups, and highlighted images of our IDs. Still, Facebook denied our verification and refused to allow us to advertise. This was becoming a big concern. However, then we noticed there was a second verification option. Notarization.
The Runaround
At this point, we would be forced to print off identity verification documents provided by Facebook, have them notarized, and then have them sent back to Facebook. The process could take up to two weeks or so. It looked like this was our only option since Facebook seemed intent on making this process as difficult as possible. So, we conceeded and played their game.
After verifying our physical address, submission of IDs, and sending in legally notarized documents, we begin to play the waiting game. And we kept waiting. For over a month. We couldn’t reach anyone and there was no way to get things moving with our account. Now, we had lost ground on a number of important articles and info dump releases. Still, we waited. Finally, about 6 weeks in, we finally began submitting complaints.
At this point, we felt the only option we had was to use their system against them. We placed an ad about how they were refusing to acknowledge our documents and refusing to allow us to advertise. It worked within one day and our documents were finally approved. It seemed like our troubles with Facebook might be over. However, they were just beginning.
Continued Suppression of Information by Facebook
After Facebook finally verified our account, we assumed we would be good to go. We were wrong. At this point, we began the process all over again, attempting to share our article The Leg Break Threat. Despite much time passing, this was an important article that must be shared. It was integral to get the word out. So, despite the passage of time, we felt it was still the jumping off point we needed to begin with.
However, Facebook still wouldn’t allow it. Once again, they denied our ad. Again, they cited that we were unverified to publish articles of a social or political nature. We attempted to boost other articles we had written. We received similar denials. At this point, it was clear this was not an issue of our credentials, but an issue of Facebook actively suppressing our freedom of speech.
The Memes
With little choices left to get our message out, we tried a different tactic. We began sharing memes related to our causes and boosted those. Simple. Non-controversial memes. We boosted four in total and all of them were approved to run. Quickly, they began to pick up steam and go viral. We were having a tough time keeping up with all of the shares, reactions, and comments. Additionally, we were suddenly inundated with PAGE LIKE invite options. Naturally, we began to invite as many people to follow our Facebook Page as possible.
However, Facebook caught on and didn’t like that our reach was suddenly growing. Consequently, they took action. They began to restrict our ability to send out further requests to the people who had liked our posts. Later, both of our admin accounts were ban from sending our further invites for a few days. Keep in mind that these are ads we are paying money to run. We have every right to reach out to these people. However, Facebook didn’t see it that way.
The Last Straw
Then, about a week in, Facebook ban one of our admins for 30 days. They gave no reason for this decision. There was no opportunity to appeal. Completely ban from all aspects of Facebook. However, it doesn’t stop there. About 10 days later, our admin’s entire Facebook account was, without warning, completely deleted from Facebook. No message, no email… nothing. Everything was gone. Years of work done on the site. All removed with no recourse.
Finally, it was at this point we knew that this fight was going to be even harder than we had already anticipated. Upon this realization, we began speaking with a lawyer about Facebook’s refusal to allow us to release this information. As of writing this article, the case against Facebook is still ongoing and none of our issues have been resolved.
Help Us Fight the Good Fight
Costs to document this historical government tragedy have been excessive. However, they are far from over. Our personal expenses to fight the powers that continue to victimize our children and their families have exceeded over $1,000,000. They continue to grow by the day.
In order to save face, the state of Arizona continues to blame the victims of corruption. They do so at great damage to their reputations and credibility. Meanwhile, very few of the perpetrators in the Arizona CPS scandals have been held accountable.
Any contribution you can make to aid our cause is most appreciated. You can donate to Saving Grace Advocates using the link provided. Please help us fight Arizona CPS corruption and bring justice to the families and children who have suffered at their hands. Thank you for your continued support and contributions.
Sincerely,
Saving Grace Advocates