Pete Evans ‘BANNED’ from Facebook: Disgraced celebrity chef says his ‘reach is disappearing’ as the social media giant cracks down on COVID-19 misinformation
- The anti-vaxxer and COVID-19 conspiracy theorist, 47, believes Facebook has ‘shadow-banned’ his page
- ‘Shadow-banning’ is an alternative to permanently blocking someone from a website, and involves making a user’s content harder to find
- The method is supposedly so subtle that people often don’t realise they have been ‘shadow-banned’
- The social media company is cracking down on users who use the platform to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories
- Evans believes the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax and encourages people to ignore government safety measures
- He is already preparing for a total ban from Facebook and Instagram by setting up his own platform, Evolve Network, and joining Telegram messenger
- Evans’ documentary The Magic Pill, which falsely suggests the Paleo diet can cure cancer, diabetes, autism and heart disease, was recently pulled from Netflix
Disgraced celebrity chef Pete Evans is convinced that Facebook has ‘shadow-banned’ his account after his engagement levels dropped dramatically this month.
The former My Kitchen Rules judge, who was sacked from Channel Seven earlier this year for his dangerous and unscientific views, told fans last week that his ‘reach is disappearing by the day’.
He is convinced this is because of a ‘shadow-ban’, which refers to when a social media platform makes a user’s content harder to find instead of blocking them completely.
In the dark: Disgraced celebrity chef Pete Evans (pictured) is convinced that Facebook has ‘shadow-banned’ his account after his engagement levels dropped dramatically this month
In a desperate call to action on Friday, Evans told his followers to share his posts with their friends because people aren’t seeing his content organically.
Evans wrote: ‘My reach is disappearing by the day as they shadow ban my page… which is why I invite you to share as you all can have a much farther reach than I can.’
Instead of permanently removing somebody from a website, some social media users believe a shadow-ban still allows them to post freely, but makes their content and profile harder to find.
It’s believed that a shadow-banned account on Instagram or Facebook won’t appear in any searches unless the entire username is typed in, nor will the account appear in any hashtag searches.
Facebook has previously denied the practice of shadow-banning.
Despite these denials, the California-based social media company has reportedly patented a shadow-banning method.
It comes after Evans’ documentary The Magic Pill was recently removed from the streaming platform Netflix after its contract came to an end.
The film had copped significant backlash from health professionals since its 2017 release for falsely suggesting that the Paleo diet can potentially cure illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, autism and heart disease.
After three years on Netflix, anyone who tries to access the film now gets a 404 Not Found page. The 404 page is accompanied by the text ‘Lost Your Way?’, which ironically is what many people have been saying about Pete recently.
Meanwhile, Evans is already preparing for a total ban from all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
He has set up his own platform, Evolve Network, where he screens his self-produced documentary films, and has joined cloud-based instant messaging service Telegram.
Pete has been involved in a string of controversies since being sacked by Channel Seven earlier this year for his extreme views.
In July, he claimed that COVID-19 was a ‘f**king hoax’ and that the pandemic ‘doesn’t compare to what is happening in the world on a large scale’.
Among his bizarre claims about the virus, Pete has previously declared he’s immune to coronavirus, and has also blamed the pandemic on 5G technology.
He recently endorsed fellow conspiracy theorist David Icke, a Holocaust denier who was denied entry to Australia last year after protests from the Jewish community.