The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), facing criticism over its classification of carcinogens, has reportedly been advising its scientific experts not to publish internal research data on its 2015 report on "probably carcinogenic" glyphosate.

The IARC urged its scientists not to publish research documents on its 2015 weedkiller glyphosate review, according to Reuters. The agency told Reuters on Tuesday that it tried to protect the study from "external interference," as well as protect its intellectual rights, since it was "the sole owner of such materials."

The scientists had been asked earlier to release all the documentation on the 2015 report under US freedom of information laws...

The controversial report has seemingly made the IARC a target for attacks from multiple directions, and raised scientific, legal, and financial questions.

Facebook needs to be regulated as a "political actor" because of its censorship practices, Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of think tank 'The Bow Group' told RT, accusing the Silicon Valley giant of curtailing free speech.

"If Facebook wants to be a political actor, then it needs to be regulated as a political actor or regulated at the same level as all other media outlets," Harris-Quinney said, stressing that the social media behemoth is "clearly putting itself on one side of the political debate."

Facebook banned Infowars, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and other prominent conservative voices such as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan from the social network, citing the firm's policies on "hate organizations."

"This is an absolute curtailment of the free speech because they're saying these individuals are dangerous. Well, many people, as myself, see them as perfectly reasonable actors in a political debate," said the chairman of the independent, UK-based think tank, which champions conservative opinions.

Donald Trump Jr. has lashed out at what he called the "purposeful and calculated" silencing of conservative voices on social media, following the latest Facebook ban against Alex Jones and other right-wing commentators.

Tweeting about the platform's controversial move to ban Jones and other popular figures, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer and Louis Farrakhan, Trump Jr. said the censorship should "terrify everyone."

He said the latest step, which has been Facebook's most severe measure yet against the likes of Jones and others, showed that they were taking their "censorship campaign" to the next level. "Ask yourself, how long before they come to purge you? We must fight back," he wrote.

Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have been taking heat from conservatives for months over what they claim is a coordinated effort to silence them by slapping them with unwarranted suspensions and bans. Twitter has also been accused of 'shadowbanning' prominent Republican figures.

President Donald Trump himself has even weighed in on the controversy, accusing social media companies of discrimination against conservatives - an accusation which led to a surprise Oval Office meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last week.

'Nothing to do with hate speech': Gavin McIness slams 'un-American' Facebook censorship

Facebook's recent crackdown on right-wing figures is "un-American," and "has nothing to do with hate speech," Vice Media co-founder and Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes told RT.

The social media giant purged a raft of accounts from its own platform and from Instagram on Thursday, calling them "extremists" and "dangerous." For three of the accounts, InfoWars' Alex Jones, gay conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and activist Laura Loomer, their association with McInnes was used as evidence for the ban.

"They make you into a supervillain and you go 'wait, that's not me!' and they cut you off...because they can't win," McInnes told RT. "Anyone with a dissenting opinion from the mainstream media has to be silenced."

Facebook's purge did not affect some of the most prominent fake news merchants: The mainstream media, he said. "The mainstream media has pushed the Brett Kavanaugh serial rapist lie, they've pushed the Covington High School kids, the Russia conspiracy thing...the mainstream media has done way more fake news than us, but we are being censored," McInnes added.

Trump defends Facebook banned 'extremists,' attacks 'radical left-wing' media

How was your morning? President Donald Trump started his day by retweeting a barrage of content from Paul Joseph Watson - banned from Facebook for alleged "extremist" content, and slating the "radical left wing media."

Trump kept up the Twitter offensive on Saturday, tweeting an InfoWars clip featuring black Trump supporters declaring their love and support for the president. As well as banning InfoWars and its host Alex Jones, Facebook announced on Thursday it would ban users posting InfoWars content.

The president went on to retweet content from InfoWars' Paul Joseph Watson - a conservative vlogger who rails against political correctness and vehemently denies the "extremist" label.

© Twitter / realDonaldTrump

Trump also broadcast a clip from an account named 'Deep State Exposed' featuring an Islamic preacher declaring his desire to "conquer America," and a warning from Rebel Media's Lauren Southern that establishment conservatives will be the next voices silenced on social media.

Trump finished off his Saturday tweetstorm with a post of his own, wondering why the "Radical Left" New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC are "allowed to be on Twitter and Facebook" after pushing the "Russia Collusion Delusion" story for two years.

Some proponents of Facebook's recent purge have argued that as a private company, Facebook can ban whoever it wants from using its services. The ensuing argument has centered around whether Facebook is defined as a 'publisher' or a 'platform,' with different legal protections afforded to speech depending on the definition.

A platform exists to facilitate speech, and is not responsible for the content posted. A publisher curates and distributes content, and is therefore responsible. Facebook has always presented itself as a platform, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress last year that his company is 'responsible for the content" posted, a step towards the 'publisher' role.

Trump appeared to side with the 'platform' argument on Saturday, retweeting a post from Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing, in which Boreing suggests that as a platform, Facebook can't simply "ban anyone for any reason."

© Twitter/realDonaldTrump

It is unclear what Trump actually intends to do about the "censorship of American citizens" he decried on Twitter. However, his recent executive order protecting free speech on college campuses could serve as a template.

Liberal Twitter in free speech conundrum after Facebook bans Jones, Yiannopoulos and Farrakhan

Liberals seem to be torn between applauding Facebook's censorship of "wrongthink" users and sticking up for free speech, a principle the Left once championed unconditionally.

After Facebook and Instagram announced they were not only banning controversial figures like Jones, Yiannopoulos and Farrakhan, but also anyone who reposted content from Jones' Infowars and removing any groups or events that promoted any of the blacklisted "extremists," citing the platform's policy on "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations," Twitter erupted in...applause?

Facebook claims the blacklisted users violated its policy on "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations," which covers "terrorist activity, organized hate, mass or serial murder, human trafficking, and organized violence or criminal activity" and says its policies have not changed. Some on Twitter actually claimed the censorship hadn't gone far enough, calling for Twitter to follow Facebook's lead and even suggesting more names for the blacklist.

Others warned that the bans wouldn't stop with easy targets like Jones and Laura Loomer, a lesson we should have learned the last time Facebook engaged in mass ideological deplatforming in 2018.

The "but it's a private company" argument was dutifully trotted out.

...and shot down by conservatives, for a change.

"There is no First Amendment protection, because they are not the government, but absent legislation, absent something that is created by the courts or by the legislature or congress, I submit that one day we should treat these platforms as utilities," legal analyst Lionel told RT, weighing in on the controversy. "It's their terms of service, and we need legislation and courts to intervene."

Much was made of the media's categorization of Farrakhan as "far-right," as if that would make the banning morally acceptable, with some sarcastically weighing in to congratulate Facebook on its weaponization of Farrakhan to silence criticism from the right.

And as some activists found out, even talking about the ban on Facebook leads to a Big-Brotheresque "the people who manage this Page will review your post."

Facebook has banned Alex Jones from its platform before, an unprecedented move when it happened last year that was followed with a wave of deplatformings that included several popular progressive pages. Those who refuse to learn from history are, apparently, condemned to repeat it.

Jeers and cheers after Facebook purge of Alex Jones, Infowars, Farrakhan & others

Bans of several anti-establishment figures on Facebook and Instagram has conservatives and moderates crying censorship and calling the measure "Orwellian" and a "digital gulag," while left-wing activists demanded more, and faster.

Facebook announced on Thursday it was banning the accounts of InfoWars, Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, and Louis Farrakhan, calling them "extremists" and "dangerous." The ban applies to Facebook and Instagram, also owned by the Menlo Park-based company.

Anyone who shares any Infowars content on Facebook platforms is facing a potential ban as well, the company said.

Watson, an editor at Infowars, confirmed he had been banned, and said he was not given a reason, nor had he broken any rules.

"In an authoritarian society controlled by a handful of Silicon Valley giants, all dissent must be purged," he tweeted. "They're now just banning people for wrongthink. There's no pretense of enforcing rules. If you challenge them, you're gone."

Reacting to the ban, Loomer told a reporter that she lived in a "digital gulag." Pointing out that she's a Zionist, Loomer also objected to being purged by "Nazis in Silicon Valley" on Holocaust Remembrance Day and lumped in with Farrakhan and Nehlen, whom she described as "vile Jew haters."

"It's disgusting. But I don't expect anything else from these people who want me dead," Loomer said, adding that she would rather kill herself than "let them take the victory lap."

Almost everyone banned on Thursday had backed Trump to some extent since 2016, with the notable exception of Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader and prominent Black nationalist. His inclusion in the ban, along with mainstream media outlets labeling him "right wing," has raised more than a few eyebrows.

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