This story was widely debunked weeks ago, and yet it persists. Hovering at #2 on the Snopes.com “Hot 100” list of the most-circulated hoaxes, this one takes the form of a Facebook post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg (and, ahem, spells his name incorrectly).
Seen it on your feed lately? It states that Facebook is instituting a “No Religion” policy, whereby “anyone spreading religious beliefs” will have their account shut down and be subject to “investigation.” Because what better business model could there be for Facebook than Stalinist Russia?
Whenever something like this pops up, I can’t help but think about the person who started it. Somebody made that fake Facebook notice, and put enough energy into it to make it look semi-legit—though, as per usual with internet hoaxes, they didn’t spell-check it.
So why this particular message? Was it mocked up by an atheist who wants his aunt to stop posting about the rapture? A secular person who wants to make religious people look dumb? A religious person trying to send a message that mainstream culture is still the enemy?
Most likely, it was just somebody who wanted to see if they could get away with it. Similar hoaxes in the past have had non-religious themes: Facebook is banning photos of military amputees, Facebook is banning marijuana-related posts, Facebook is banning swearing. But there’s no shortage of internet hoaxes targeting religious people, either. Because we’re all sheep who believe anything we’re told. Baaaa.
