Facebook Ban on Supporting Rittenhouse Wears Thin as Prosecution Stumbles

Facebook decided last September to ban statements defending Kyle Rittenhouse as if they were support for “mass murder” — a decision that looks increasingly questionable as Rittenhouse’s lawyers make a strong self-defense case in a Kenosha court.

Rittenhouse is facing several counts of murder and other charges. But video evidence of the melee at a Black Lives Matter riot in Kenosha last Aug. 25 suggested that he had fired on people who attacked him — including one armed with a firearm.

As Breitbart News has reported, a key prosecution witness admitted Monday that Rittenhouse only shot at him once he had pointed his own pistol at the teenager, and the detective in the case admitted that Rittenhouse only shot people chasing him.

Some legal observers opined that Rittenhouse should qualify for a directed verdict — a legal finding by the judge that the prosecution has failed to establish the basic elements of the crime. But the establishment media continued portraying the teenager in the worst possible light:

If you want to understand why no one trust the press, today’s headlines about the trial are a perfect example. This witness got caught in multiple lies and his testimony ended up making a clear case for self-defense. This is how the major outlets reported on it: pic.twitter.com/P4qSY33Gmd

— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 8, 2021

The bias is partly by design. Last year, Facebook declared — in advance of any trial — that Rittenhouse was guilty of “mass murder,” and confirmed that it would ban any posts supporting him.

Other social media companies followed suit, as did other companies and organizations. As Breitbart News recalled Monday: “Twitter locked the account of a Rittenhouse attorney, and a police officer lost his job for donating to Rittenhouse’s defense.”

However, the trial has presented evidence that suggests Rittenhouse had, at the very least, a solid case for self-defense, at least to the murder charges.

As with the Hunter Biden laptop, social media companies suppressed facts and free speech.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.