Golf tournament confronts Meta ‘censorship’
DiMatteo said he’s posted to Instagram and Facebook before and spends money on the sites for his real estate business.
Dan DiMatteo is sure he’s being handicapped by Big Tech “censorship.”
His June 13 “Back the Blue” golf tournament in Quincy has been driven into the matrix of hold-ups by Instagram and Facebook — both owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta conglomerate.
“The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection,” the company pledges.
But DiMatteo, an executive at EVO Real Estate Group in South Boston, says it more of a disconnection.
He just wants to put on a friendly golf tournament to help promote police, first responders and those serving in the military.
The goal is to raise $100,000 to “distribute evenly” to the tournament’s four sponsors.
Those sponsors are:
State Police Association of Massachusetts Benevolent Fund, Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Foundation, Boston Police Foundation and Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
“It’s a charity golf tournament,” DiMatteo told the Herald, but Meta has suddenly cracked down on posting anything on their platforms.
“It’s crazy. I never thought I’d see the day where social media is controlling” the message, he said.
“It’s very disheartening.
This is a black and white example of censoring,” he continued.
The tournament has room for 36 foursomes and currently have 18 signed up at this time.
It’s $500 per golfer, and it all goes to charity.
Country singer and former BC hoopster Ayla Brown who will be singing the National Anthem, and her dad, former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador Scott Brown, will be performing with his band at the banquet dinner following the tournament at the Granite Links Golf Club.
Scott Brown said he’s “never seen anything like it. … It’s about the red, white and blue. It’s inspirational.”
He called DiMatteo “a good guy,” adding he’s perplexed at the entire situation.
DiMatteo said he’s posted to Instagram and Facebook before and spends money on the sites for his real estate business.
But all the hoops he’s being made to jump through smacks of a left-wing, antipolice agenda playing out in the metaverse.
In Meta’s defense, it’s nearly impossible to seek comment.
They do state “Meta recognizes how important it is for Facebook to be a place where people feel empowered to communicate, and we take our role seriously in keeping abuse off the service.”
“That’s why we developed standards for what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook,” they continue.
It appears the Quincy tourney has hit into this sandtrap.
The word is still getting out that the “EVO Backs the Blue — 2022 Golf Open” is still moving ahead, with or without Meta.