I am outraged that Facebook has been demoting the page of UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer over the past six months, drastically reducing its distribution to his 49,000 followers — and that it is now threatening to completely delete the human rights activist’s account.

Neuer received a severe warning from Facebook that his page was “at risk of being unpublished” due to “continued Community Standards violations.”

However, your company listed only one alleged violation: a post by Neuer on August 17, 2021, which showed a photo of Taliban gunmen sitting in the presidential palace in Kabul, with his caption, “Prediction: Ben and Jerry’s will never announce a boycott of the Taliban.”

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this post, which was shared widely on Twitter without incident.

Yet it was deleted by Facebook “for violating our Community Standards.” No explanation was provided, nor did Facebook respond to attempts by Neuer to repeal the ruling.

“Don't lose your Page! If you get a few more Community Standard violations, you could lose Hillel Neuer forever. Nobody wants that,” your notice added.

In addition to threatening to delete his page, Facebook has already been demoting Neuer’s account as a penalty for his post criticizing the Taliban. “Your page has reduced distribution and other restrictions,” your company told Neuer.

Mr. Zuckerberg, there is no justification for Facebook to have been shadow banning Neuer for more than half a year— deliberately and unjustifiably hiding Neuer’s posts from the public—and to now be threatening complete cancellation of his account. It makes absolutely no sense.”

Neuer’s Facebook page has been existence since May 2009, and he relies on social media to share vital information about human rights and the United Nations. Yet Facebook is stifling his voice and now threatening to shut him down.

I am troubled by the lack of clarity in your Facebook Community Standards, and the lack of transparency and arbitrariness in the application of those standards.

It is possible that this censorship was caused by individuals abusing those standards, acting in bad faith to harass Mr. Neuer, but whatever the reason, it needs to stop.

I urge you to remove all strikes against Hillel Neuer’s Facebook page, to cease punitive measures against his page, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that bad faith actors can no longer trigger baseless actions against his page.