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Panel just now on @ReliableSources, during which commentator trying to defend Farrakhan wouldn't name him or thus condemn Alex Jones etc, shows exactly why Facebook banned anti-Semitic Farrakhan along w/ far-right conspiracists. It was smart but manipulative "both-sides-ism"
But this is potentially a terrible precedent to set, that decisions to ban some of the worst actors must be "balanced" to avoid accusations of bias (that they'll get anyway)
B/c altho drowned out by shouting colleagues, @irin is right: research shows allowing conspiracies/hate/propaganda to proliferate on social media legitimizes them as "ideas"+ once people see stuff, they think it's true. "Fighting bad ideas with good" is not how social media works
