Big tech giant Facebook blocked Karen Giorno, a veteran Republican strategist who worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 and is widely credited for his win in the state of Florida, after Giorno made posts informing her friends and family of the passing of her mother. Giorno was allowed to make the initial posts, but then was prevented from replying to the nearly 1,000 comments made from friends, family, and colleagues expressing their condolences.
Speaking to National File, Giorno explained that, despite being a public figure and a longtime Republican strategist who has worked in Republican politics since Reagan was in the White House, she uses her Facebook primarily to post family updates and inspirational messages to her nearly-5,000 friends, and primarily so her elderly parents could see regular updates on her life.
“I don’t have everyone’s personal addresses,” explained Giorno, “That’s what Facebook is for: Community discussion, community support, community. It’s community. If we’re going to use Facebook for the way Facebook intends for their platform to be used, how in the world can they justify that I violated their community standards? There’s not been an, ‘I apologize, this was a glitch, it got caught in an algorithm.’”
“There’s all these beautiful things about my mother, what are you going to say, she raised a monster?” Giorno added, “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, maybe it was a glitch, but I don’t think it was because of who I am. And I don’t think it was [a glitch] because they’ve made no attempt whatsoever to correct it.”
This week the public learned that Facebook has a secret list of individuals to whom it gives preferential treatment, including looking the other way when these high profile individuals may run foul of Facebook’s Community Standards. Giorno says she believes the inverse is also true, and that Facebook punishes Republican outsiders like President Trump and those who work with them through shadow banning and heavy handed enforcement of their nebulous Community Standards.
Explaining that she began working in politics in the George H.W. Bush White House, Giorno said she transitioned to working for “outsider” candidates and causes over a decade ago, and has not turned back. This, combined with her close working relationships with President Trump and his campaign, is why Giorno believes she is being targeted by Facebook.
“I have this unique perspective of having one foot in the establishment side of politics, right, within the Republican Party, but I also have a foot in the outsider side.” Giorno said, explaining that she began working for Sarah Palin in the 2008 campaign and then in Palin’s PAC. “She’s an outsider, then I went with Rick Scott, who was an outsider, then I went with Donald Trump, who was an outsider.”
“I am not an anti vaxxer, I am not a crazy conspiracy theorist, I don’t believe in them, I want to be very clear. However, I don’t believe in coincidences. You follow the money, you follow the bread crumbs, you find shenanigans.” Giorno added, “I’m on their radar because I was as high up as you can get in the Trump world. They’d forgotten about my Bush credentials and working for the RNC, [Facebook] only cared about what I posted about Donald Trump, vaccines, now Ron DeSantis.”
National File examined the obituary of Rosalie Giorno, who passed away on September 8 at 83, and did not find objectionable content. The obituary reveals that Rosalie Giorno was a devout Catholic who was devoted to her children, and became a special education teacher’s aide to remain close to her children during elementary school.
National File contacted Facebook and asked whether Giorno or other individuals who work or worked with President Trump are receiving special negative treatment from the platform, and whether Giorno is on any type of list that would see her face harsher scrutiny from its moderation staff. National File also asked for an explanation of why Giorno was prevented from replying to condolences on Facebook, and whether Facebook agrees that sharing family updates and responding to friends, family, and colleagues is how Facebook is meant to be used. National File did not receive a reply in time for publication.
