Merry Christmas! Facebook Has Removed Pete Evans’ Page For Spreading COVID-19 Misinformation
Let's leave him in 2020.
Celebrity chef turned QAnon conspiracist and neo-Nazi meme sharer Pete Evans has been de-platformed by Facebook for continually spreading misinformation around COVID-19.
Evans, who had more than one million followers on Facebook, has been removed after many months of sharing misinformation about COVID-19, including false cures, anti-mask and anti-vax conspiracies, and notions that it is a ‘plandemic’ or that hugs and self-love could fight against the virus.
Earlier this year, the former My Kitchen Rules judge was dropped by Channel 7 after he was fined $25,000 by the TGA for selling a lamp he claimed, completely unfounded, would cure COVID-19.
And now, he’s had his Facebook page removed. In a statement, Facebook said they had removed Evans’ page for “repeated violations” of policies around sharing misinformation that could lead to ‘imminent physical harm’.
It’s unclear if there was one specific post that caused the deletion, though, as per News Corp, this week Evans urged followers who were in the Northern Beached to not get tested for COVID-19, despite it being the site of a cluster.
Recently, Evans has shared a variety of QAnon theories and anti-mask rhetoric: as reported by Pedestrian.TV, last week he inferred that CNN host Anderson Cooper was a pedophile, as per an illustration on his mask.
In November, Evans shared a cartoon to Facebook that featured a Sonnenrad, an ancient symbol co-opted by Nazis, most recently used in the manifesto by the white supremacist who targeted Muslim people and killed 51 people in the 2019 Christchurch Mosque shooting.
He was soon dropped by publisher Pan MacMillan, his homewares pulled from stores, and was axed last-minute from Channel 10’s upcoming season of I’m A Celebrity….
Evans’ Instagram remains, despite the platform also being run by Facebook. On it, he has since used the news of his page deleting to spruik a subscription-based content service.