Facebook flags the Declaration of Independence as 'hate speech' on 4th of July

A Fourth of July post celebrating the Declaration of Independence was blocked on Facebook after the social media site flagged it as hate speech.

To mark America's birthday, the Vindicator newspaper in Liberty County, Texas, posted excerpts from the country's founding document on its Facebook page. But while the first nine sections went online without incident, the paper reports its 10th post on Monday was blocked.

Instead, the paper got a notice from the site saying the post "goes against our standards on hate speech," the Vindicator said in an editorial on its website.

Although the website did not specify what the violation was, the paper noted the section that was blocked included the phrase "merciless Indian Savages."

"Perhaps had Thomas Jefferson written it as 'Native Americans at a challenging stage of cultural development' that would have been better," wrote Vindicator editor Casey Stinnett. "Unfortunately, Jefferson, like most British colonists of his day, did not hold an entirely friendly view of Native Americans."

The paper noted the action was likely an automated process, and no human had actually decided to remove the post. An editor's note on the story says the content was later restored to the Vindicator's page and Facebook apologized in an email for the "incorrect action."

"This is frustrating, but your editor is a historian, and to enjoy the study of history a person must love irony," Stinnett said. "It is a very great irony that the words of Thomas Jefferson should now be censored in America."

This story was originally published July 5, 2018 at 3:07 PM.