Photo by Ollie Millington/Getty Images
Facebook suspended the accounts of more than 200 people on September 19th who were connected to an event protesting the construction of the contested Coastal GasLink pipeline. The suspension shows how vulnerable activists are to the actions of social media platforms in the midst of a pandemic, when protesting in person comes with more risk than usual.
Indigenous activists have opposed the pipeline’s construction, which would cut through the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s territory if built. The suspensions curbed one of the few outlets left on which activists can protest while socially distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It left some scrambling to communicate without Facebook messenger, and it has Wet’suwet’en activists rethinking how…