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Facebook has suspended the right-wing social network account that in the last week posted false information about transgender health care for youth at Boston Children's Hospital, sparking a storm of threats and harassment against the medical center and its doctors.
The account was addressed to Children's Hospital's Gender Multi-Specialty Services Program, or GeMS, the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the nation. The program serves patients with gender dysphoria, a condition in which people identify with a different sex than the one they were assigned at birth.
Banned From Facebook
“Our account was suspended and we immediately appealed. Within 2 minutes they replied that we are suspended forever,” Libs complained from the TikTok Twitter account. "I'm confident we got a full and fair review."
The page was apparently disabled, but it was still visible on Facebook on Wednesday night. A request for comment sent to Facebook's press office was not immediately returned. A subsequent tweet from the Libs of TikTok account confirmed that “our page is backed up on Facebook but we are still blocked and were last told it is permanent.”
In a tweet Wednesday night, the Libs of TikTok Twitter account said its Facebook page had been permanently suspended. The account posted an image of a Facebook notice saying the suspension was due to violations of the social network's standards.
Libs from the TikTok Facebook page hasn't posted since 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
In the past, the account has often posted about gender-affirming care, a wide range of treatments that help people with gender dysphoria align their physical features with their gender identity.
Libs of TikTok, with an audience of more than 1.3 million Twitter followers, is a "powerful force on the internet," a Washington Post investigation found earlier this year. The account frequently targets people in the gay, lesbian and transgender communities with posts that often include "inflammatory framing designed to spark outrage," the Post wrote.
TikTok's Libs claimed that Boston Children's provided hysterectomies, the surgical removal of all or part of the uterus, to young girls. That claim was false, Boston Children's said in a statement Tuesday night: The hospital does not perform hysterectomies on anyone under the age of 18.
"We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms," the hospital said, "and reject the false narrative on which they are based."
In a statement Wednesday, US Attorney Rachael Rollins called any threats against the hospital "disturbing, to say the least."
“Children deserve the opportunity to thrive and grow up as themselves,” said Rollins, the top federal law enforcement officer in Massachusetts. "While freedom of expression is indeed the cornerstone of our great nation, fear, intimidation and threats are not."
Boston Children's wasn't the only children's hospital to face a barrage of Libs of TikTok and similar accounts. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Children's Hospital of Phoenix were also attacked.
Several such violent threats were subsequently uncovered by journalists. "It's time to start executing these 'doctors,'" one pro-Trump forum poster wrote, according to Vice News.
“Devils like this don't deserve to breathe! Crimes against humanity = DEATH,” said a Telegram user, along with a link to an article repeating the hysterectomy claims.
Boston Children's continued in its statement: "We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms and reject the false narrative on which they are based." The center said it was working with law enforcement to protect its staff and the community, and was "proud to be home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States."
CP Hoffman, senior policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that while inflamed anti-trans rhetoric might make it more frightening for patients to seek gender-affirming care, they shouldn't get discouraged or scared. far. "The potential joy of being able to live as oneself is worth it," they added.
Who are the 'Libs of TikTok'?
'Libs of TikTok' is one of the most influential handles in the conservative social media landscape, with his tweets garnering thousands of likes. The account is known to post content mocking liberals, school teachers, and members of the trans community. Some videos also accuse teachers of "grooming" or "indoctrinating" children on LGBT rights.
The handle has almost 700,000 followers on Twitter, more than 66,000 on Instagram and more than 9,000 on YouTube. The creator anonymously told the New York Post in February that he also had a TikTok account, but it was eventually deactivated. Lorenz, despite the social media storm brewing against her, revealed the identity of the Twitter user behind the 'Libs of TikTok' account as Chaya Raichik.
According to the Washington Post exposé, Raichik was working as a real estate agent in Brooklyn when she created the sensational account in November 2020.
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