Sex abuse survivors lose archive as Facebook removes news from ‘life saving’ site

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

February 18, 2021

By Rhiannon Shine

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-18/facebook-news-ban-sees-sex-abuse-survivors-lose-archive/13167708?fbclid=IwAR0Ae90iNd4m0iwxT_ZtYqe8RR3p_yEQot98o-PtMZYAVAy37gJKLa2vwRs

A survivor of clergy abuse who started a Facebook group to help other survivors says he is “devastated” by the social media giant’s decision to block Australian news.

Richie Scutt, who was sexually abused by an Anglican priest when he was 11 years old, started the Facebook group Survivors and Friends in 2016.

He said he started the group to share news reports on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and it became a lifeline for many.

Mr Scutt said the group had grown to around 200 members from across Australia and still primarily shared news stories.

He estimated more than 2,000 news articles had been shared to the Facebook group since 2016, and said he was devastated to find they had all disappeared when he logged onto Facebook this morning.

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