Facebook

And another 30-Day Facebook Suspension

My cartoon of Dilbert joining the hater lunch bunch at Mar-a-Lago wasn’t my first idea on the subject. This was my first idea. But like with a lot of first ideas for a cartoon, I figured it was too obvious and that others would do it. Nevertheless, I decided to share it with my readers on social media. It was posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Truth Social, TikTok, and Tribel.

The damn thing got more likes, comments, and shares than the better cartoon, but that’s social media for ya. Several hours later, it got me another 30-day suspension.

I discovered this after getting out of the shower. The tab on my computer was set to my email and there was something from Facebook. It was an email about the ban telling me I have 30 days to challenge this 30-day suspension, which I did. They may come back in two months, after I’m back, to tell me they got it wrong. How consistent is Facebook? The same cartoon that violated their terms of service is still up on their other platform.

After I posted this cartoon, I was told by several people that is had been done (which is why I didn’t do it initially). But guess what. Those other versions are STILL ON FUCKING FACEBOOK! Hell, I bet Scott Adams is still on Facebook.

In case you don’t know this, I’m the king of suspensions, bans, deleted accounts, and getting his wrist slapped with a ruler on social media. I challenge other cartoonists to prove they’ve been hit more than I have. I’ve been punished, banned, and suspended by Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube. Instagram deleted my first account and wouldn’t restore it even after they told me they got it wrong. Truth Social usually only blocks my cartoons out. Twitter has never bothered me for my contest.

Now, please don’t come at me advising that I join some alternative social media account. I’ve done it and quite frankly, they all suck. I’m posting my stuff to Tribel and Post and I don’t like them. Hell, I’m still posting on Truth Social and I don’t like that. It’s become too much.

Also, please spread the word that I’ve been suspended again. And this time, they’ve even blocked me from using Messenger which truly fucks up some things as there are dozens of people I talk to on Messenger whose numbers I don’t have. I need to inform both of my proofreaders.

Another thing that gets me is that this website makes money from visits by people clicking links to it on Facebook. This is the third 30-day ban for me since I think October. This is bullshit and it’s another financial hit.

Also, a lot of my readers won’t figure it out. They’ll wonder where I’ve been. Some will think I quit cartooning or am taking a long break, which really pisses me off. Hello? Have you not kept up with my schedule? Do you not see my output? And, I keep telling all of them to subscribe to the blog because another ban is coming yet most of them don’t. For the next month, I’m going to be getting emails and messages on other platforms asking if I quit.

The dumbest question I was ever asked on social media: Will you keep drawing during your Facebook ban? A person asking me that stupid-ass question tells me his entire life revolves around Facebook and there’s no existence for him without it.

All this has me thinking about taking my show to Patreon. Other cartoonists are charging to see their cartoons on the same day they’re drawn, to read their blogs, to see the timelapse videos of the cartoons being drawn, and to see the roughs. You know, all the shit I’ve been giving away for free.

By the way, the Hater Lunch Bunch cartoon got a mention in The Washington Post where I’m also quoted.

Update: Facebook denied my appeal…

And then a little after midnight, they reversed course and reinstated my account.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw:

Insurrection Pizza

I subscribe to the Counterpoint email. Counterpoint is a cartoon service that offers cartoons representing both sides of an argument. Sounds good, right? Except that oftentimes, the counterpoint to the “liberal” argument has to be a lie based on a conspiracy theory, which is what they offer with cartoons by Gary Varvel and Dick Wright (two religious fundamentalist yee-haw fuckers who ignore the commandment “thou shall not lie”). Counterpoint also shares a distinction with Russian state media as both commission cartoons from Sputnik Boy Ted Rall, who Putin pays to support his illegal war on Ukraine with lies and gaslighting. Or often, the “conservative” viewpoint has to misconstrue the issue, as though the right-wing cartoonist doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. I saw that this morning from Scott Stantis.

I don’t have a personal beef with Scott. I’ve always liked him and he’s a great cartoonist. We used to talk years ago so he’s not a goose-stepping talking point kinda guy. We debated the invasion of Iraq before it began with me being opposed and Scott being in favor. While most Republicans at that time refused to admit the invasion was an obvious failure and tried to change the reasons for it after weapons of mass destruction weren’t found, Scott wasn’t one of them. He changed his views on it. He’s a smart guy who I believe doesn’t constrict himself with political labels. He never supported Trump’s election lies or helped spread misinformation about the coronavirus and the vaccines like so many others who call themselves “conservative.” He’s criticized Trump for the January 6 insurrection. That’s why I found his cartoon in today’s Counterpoint email puzzling because I don’t expect such dishonesty to come from Scott.

In Scott’s cartoon, he has a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) holding Trump’s head while saying, “Dammit Facebook (he didn’t include a comma)! I demand my freedom FROM speech back.” Accompanying the cartoon, Scott wrote, “Our precious freedom of speech extends to all and doesn’t have to conform precious sensitivities. The blathering of a buffoon should enjoy the same equal treatment as anyone else. Period.”

Did you catch the trick Scott implemented there? If not, let me point it out.

Scott’s argument is that Donald Trump has the same right to free speech as the rest of us. Scott is right. Donald Trump is a “blathering buffoon” and does have the same constitutional right to free speech as the rest of us. The only problem is, that’s not the issue.

It’s not just basing opinions on lies and conspiracy theories that I hate about the yee-haw cartoonists. I also can’t stand that they so often draw cartoons on issues they don’t understand. Research, goddammit! It begs the question: Do you not understand the issue or are you lying?

First off, social media platforms are not government platforms. Losing your social media account has nothing to do with free speech, yet even the goon who owns one, Elon Musk, doesn’t understand that. If I own a webpage for music fans to discuss music and deleted comments that praised Nickelback, Linkin Park, and Train, you can argue that I’m not being fair but you’d have a losing court battle over free speech. It’s my platform. You do not have a constitutional right to worship the Black Eye Peas on my private platform.

Even when social media accounts suspend me for 30 days, I have a gripe but I don’t have a court case. You have a constitutional right to your opinion, even if your opinion is that “Get it Started” by the Black Eye Peas and pineapple pizza are the two greatest things ever, you don’t have a constitutional right to tweet it. And you really shouldn’t tweet that. Really.

But even if Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram were government platforms, using them to coordinate terrorist attacks by white nationalist MAGA goons is not free speech.

You do NOT have a constitutional right to organize an insurrection.

In addition to gaslighting about free speech, Scott also misrepresented our complaints about Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts being reinstated by Meta (the company that owns them). This morning, a MAGAt replied to my 30-second video for my CNN cartoon on this issue saying that we could simply block Donald Trump to spare us from seeing his tweets. He then called the left “morons.”

You know they have a losing argument when they have to misconstrue and lie about our position.

We don’t care about Trump’s opinions. He has a constitutional right to each and every single one of his racist opinions. It doesn’t hurt our sensibilities when he tweets how he and Putin are geniuses. Whatever, Bozo. What concerns us is him using social media platforms to create another terrorist attack against our government in order to install himself as a dictator. Trump is free to share his belief that Chachi, James Woods, and Kevin Sorbo are all better actors than DeNiro, but he’s not free to send white nationalist MAGAts to destroy our democracy.

It doesn’t matter if you block Donald Trump on social media or even if you’re not on social media. You will still be affected by the fascist takeover.

Isn’t it funny that the only people who support Donald Trump being able to return to social media and lie his tiny mango balls off are other liars?

Opinion journalists are paid to understand the issues they cover, and they shouldn’t lie about them. Frankly, I think media outlets need to stop paying right-wing journalists to lie and spread misinformation…and that includes cartoonists.

Creative note: I’m allowed to draw two cartoons on the same issue. But my newspaper clients can’t use my cartoon for CNN Opinion on this issue, but I know a lot of them would have used it. So I created another for them to use. This is it. And I bet a person exists who was suspended by Meta for hating on pineapple pizza.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw:

Facebook Ban-alamadingdong

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday

I really enjoyed this cartoon because it’s a bit personal for me. I believe that no other editorial cartoonist in this country has been hit as much by social media platforms as I have. I’ve had cartoons removed from Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. My cartoons are often blocked out with a warning on Truth Social because they’re too brutal for the delicate sensibilities of MAGAt snowflakes. I’ve had videos removed and have been suspended on YouTube. I’ve had videos removed on TikTok. Soon, I expect to have suspensions on Post and Tribel (for what it’s worth, so far I think both of those platforms suck).

I had a cartoon removed from Instagram a couple years ago that also got my account deleted. The cartoon was critical of homophobes in the nation of Brunei and Chick-fil-A. I still don’t know which of the two filed the complaint, the Sultan or the bigoted waffle fry fucks. But Instagram didn’t just suspend me, they deleted my account. Then they reversed course and told me they made a mistake but they never did restore my account, so I had to create Claytoonz 2.0 and start building all over again. Fuckers.

The funny thing is, when I get hit by a social media platform, it’s usually for a cartoon attacking hate. And recently, I got a 30-day suspension for an anti-hate cartoon, and within a week of my return, I got hit with another 30-day ban for using the word “Taliban.” And now, my posts are restricted and are being placed lower in people’s news feeds. This is not a conspiracy theory, it’s listed among my many restrictions by Facebook.

And now Facebook and Instagram are allowing Donald Trump to return after a ban of two years. Oddly enough, I’m often hit for a cartoon by one of those two platforms while the other isn’t bothered by it at all despite them both being owned by Meta.

This is horse shit. Donald Trump used social media to incite a bloody coup attempt, tried to overturn an election he lost, and committed sedition in an insurrection, but I lose an Instagram account forever that I spent years building tens of thousands of followers because I criticized a monarchy for handing down death sentences on LGBTQ people and for mocking the homophobic chicken fuckers.

Didn’t these platforms level lifetime bans on Donald Trump? Does “lifetime” not mean lifetime anymore? I did not get that memo.

My second 30-day suspension on Facebook was for typing the word “Taliban,” but now Meta is allowing the head of America’s Taliban to return.

So, yeah. This cartoon is personal.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw:

Bluebirds of Crappiness

Before you get all excited over Twitter permanently suspending Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account, remember that she still has her congressional account. Perhaps the only way to strip her of that is to kick her out of Congress. I apologize for using “strip” and “Marjorie Taylor Greene” in the same sentence. Nobody should have to read that first thing in the morning.

Twitter has a policy it enforces the same way the rest of social media enforces its policies. Sometimes. As someone who’s been slapped around by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even LinkedIn of all places, I understand the frustration. Sometimes I’ll have something removed with a message that equates to “you did something bad,” without knowing what bad thing it was I had committed. When social media yells at me, it usually accuses me of hate speech for the act of criticizing hate speech. It’s ironic when a social media platform removes your post waging a battle against hate speech and in doing so, inadvertently protects Nazis. I hope it’s inadvertently. In case you’re a Republican, “inadvertently” means you didn’t mean to do that, which is the opposite of you attempting to destroy democracy.

My posts are usually only removed when I anger the social media gods, with no other repercussions. But I did have a suspension on Facebook for several days because of one cartoon criticizing the Taliban over its treatment of women. Over the following days, several other cartoonists did the same cartoon (while telling me it wasn’t the same cartoon) and Facebook didn’t touch any of those. I guess mine was better. In this case, Facebook protected the Taliban. Of course, during my ban, social media continued to make money off hate groups.

And then there’s Instagram. Ooh, don’t get me started on Instagram. Too late. I’ve started on Instagram. I drew a cartoon comparing the anti-gay policies of the nation of Brunei to Chick-fil-A.
it’s a tiny little oil-rich country on the island of Borneo that’s governed by an absolute Islamic monarchy. Basically, it’s just one guy who collects palaces, Roll Royces, and wives. Chick-fil-A is a chicken restaurant that’s closed on Sundays because it’s controlled by religious zealots who use their chicken profits to fund anti-homosexual hate groups. But I hear they have excellent lemonade. One of these two places created a new law giving a death sentence for committing homosexual acts. I can’t remember which.

I don’t know who I pissed off more, Brunei or the chicken fuckers. But Instagram deleted my account. Now here’s the good part: I appealed and Instagram reversed their decision and told me they had made a mistake. Why, that cartoon wasn’t hate speech after all and they hoped there weren’t any hard feelings. Now here’s the really bad part: They never restored my account. After trying repeatedly to have their platform restore it, I gave up and started a new one (it’s claytoonz2.0). But, my new one only has a teeny-tiny fraction of followers the old one had. My old one had around 7,000 while the new one has 340. Dammit, Robert Reich had shared one of my cartoons from the old account and got me a buttload of followers. How do I convince him to do that again?

Another funny aspect of this is that Instagram is owned by Facebook and there are days one platform is angry with a cartoon while the other doesn’t care. It’s like Mom saying “over my dead body” while Dad says, “sure, go snorkeling with piranhas.” Also, anytime I get a cartoon removed, readers share it and they’re not touched by social media…usually. There have been times a reader told me they got a slap on the wrist for sharing one of my cartoons for criticizing the KKK. Social media is very inconsistent because, throughout all this, Marjorie Taylor Greene has been using social media platforms to spread debunked conspiracy theories like Trump won the election, the white nationalist insurrection for Trump at the Capitol, Covid is a hoax, Jewish space lasers start California wildfires, Matt Gaetz will never be on the registered sex offender list, and that vaccines are killing people.

Twitter has a policy that you can lie four times about Covid-19. After that, anything can happen. Hell, they might let you keep lying. How many lies did Donald Trump tweet before Twitter kicked him off their platform?

How many lies can I tell about Matt Gaetz before I get permanently suspended? Did you know Matt Gaetz’s penis looks like Quagmire from the cartoon Family Guy? Yeah, when it comes out of the zipper, it says “giggity.”

Anyway, the final straw for MTG was that tweeted to her 465,000 followers that vaccines are killing people. She had 465,000 followers? I wonder how many of those were Russian bots.

After receiving the Twitter smackdown, Greene issued a statement saying, “Social media platforms can’t stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech can’t stop the truth. Communist Democrats can’t stop the truth. I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome!”

First off, MTG using an MLK statement is so wrong on so many levels. Why do white nationalists love quoting Martin Luther King Jr? You don’t see vegetarians quoting Colonel Sanders (hey, two chicken franchises referenced in one blog. I’ve really been hankering for some fried chicken lately).

Also, white conservative Christians still have this faux victimization going on. From being banned for spreading hate and conspiracy theories on social media to the war on Christmas to being forced to confront their own history of hate and oppression, white folks have it hard. And do you remember how mean everyone was to MTG over her casually screaming at her colleagues through their mail slots?

MTG issued another statement boo-hooing over being suspended by Twitter.

This time, the lunatic posted, “Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out Black Lives Matter terrorists on Twitter, CNN and the rest of the Democrat Propaganda Media can spread Russia collusion lies, and just yesterday the Chief spokesman for terrorist IRGC can tweet mourning Soleimani, but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics. Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies. They can’t successfully complete a Communist revolution when people tell the truth. Social media platforms can’t stop the truth from being spread far and wide. Big Tech can’t stop the truth. Communist Democrats can’t stop the truth.I stand with the truth and the people. We will overcome! Follow me on GETTR, Telegram, and Gab immediately to continue to hear the truth about the Communist revolution in America.”

That statement was posted on Facebook.

Music note: I turned on the music when I started coloring the birds because that shit was tedious. I listened to Nirvana and Keith Whitley. Weird combo, right?

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 18 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw:

Facebook Name Change

Fun fact: When Coca-Cola changed its formula back in the 1980s and introduced New Coke, they did actually change something. It did taste different. Nobody would argue that it was the same. Of course, the new taste sucked and the outrage was so severe that Coca-Cola went back to the old formula, but at least they did more than just change the name.

It should also be noted that New Coke was just as corrosive to acid on car batteries as Coke Classic. And we expect New Facebook to be just as corrosive to society as Old Facebook.

Facebook has come under fire recently from a whistleblower’s leak of the company’s own studies that shows it profited off hate, bullying, harassment, body-shaming on Instagram, and conspiracy theories. While Facebook may argue that it took a lot of steps to discourage this stuff from happening, they didn’t really do a lot to stop it.

Here’s an example: Yesterday, I saw a fucknut’s post that the COVID vaccine, NOT COVID itself, killed Colin Powell. It didn’t speculate it, it said it. I reported it. The post is still there. Facebook doesn’t do enough to dismantle lies and conspiracy theories. Facebook is allowing the lie that vaccines kill people to remain and spread on its platform.

But the revelations aren’t just bad press for Facebook or egg on the face of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. These revelations can prove to be extremely damaging to the company as Congress may take steps to regulate the platform and all of social media. Even worse for Facebook, Congress may dismantle its conglomerate. It has to be pretty drastic for Facebook to even consider dropping a brand name worth billions.

Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce this plan at a corporate convention next week, Nerds-Who-Couldn’t-Get Laid-In-College-But-Can-Nowathon. And it’s easier to change the name than to make any practical reforms. Why would Zucky want to change anything that makes him money? Currently, Zuckerberg is worth over $130 billion but he pays himself an annual salary of $1.00. I hope he donates that dollar to Suicide Hotline.

Don’t expect the platform itself to no longer be “Facebook.” We’re talking about the Facebook corporation that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other products you haven’t heard of but are probably encrypted into everything you own, like your coffeemaker. But most people may not even notice this name change. Take Google for example.

Did you know Google is not Google? Yes, what you’re searching on is Google, but that’s not the company. At least not anymore. Google is Alphabet. Alphabet owns Google, DeepMind, Waymo, Fitbit, Google X, and about a gazillion other products. Unlike Google Plus, most are successful. Do you ever hear “Alphabet” being used? Nope.

But Zuckerberg sucks at rebranding. He’s been trying to re-cast himself for years from that nerd who created a site rating whether girls at Harvard who would not date him were “hot or not.” None of it’s worked, not the multiple rebrandings or getting hot Harvard girls to date him (actually, he did get a Harvard girl to marry him…after he became a billionaire). Do you think higher today of Mark Zuckerberg than you did before you saw that July 4 video of him riding on a hydrofoil while holding a U.S. flag to the backdrop of John Denver’s “Country Roads?” Funny how that didn’t work out for him.

If Zuckerberg really wants to hide without changing his actions, he should change his name. And guess what available? “Kanye” is available.

Kanye is changing is name to just “Ye.” His reason has something to do with his belief that “ye” is the most common word in the Bible and it means “you,” so he’s now “you,” or some shit like that. Fortunately for Kanye, or Ye, “Dipshit” is not the most common word in the Bible. You have to remember that this guy lost his mind to the point he became a Trumper. He was even running around wearing the red hat.

Other celebrities have changed their names after becoming famous. Prince changed his to a symbol for a few years. Sean Combs changed his to “Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, Sean Jean, Brother Love, Swag, Sean Love Combs” and at the present, to “Love.” Snoop Dog has changed his name to “Snoop Lion” then to “Snoopzilla” then back to “Snoop Dog.” Nobody is changing their name to “Mark Zuckerberg.”

And then you have Donald Trump. It’s ridiculous but true his name actually is “Trump.” No, it’s not “Drumpf.” But he’s not considering a name change despite “Trump” being the most toxic brand in the world. Maybe it should be “Drumpf.”

But back to Mark, I think “Kanye Zuckerberg” has a nice ring to it.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are ZERO copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. A new shipment will arrive in early November. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

Zucky Don’t Care

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday.

“Shenanigans” is the actual name of the sailboat Mark Zuckerberg was on during the 60 Minutes episode on the Facebook Whistleblower. He was trying to tell the world he doesn’t care. The thing is, he doesn’t care if Facebook profits off hate, just as long as it profits.

Zuckerberg released an extremely long statement that no person has read the entire way through. Basically, he was claiming Facebook doesn’t do the stuff it’s accused of doing, even though it actually does them. Whoever is close to him and didn’t tell him the the statement or view of him on his sailboat gave the impression he’s an obtuse android who lacks self-awareness, was the same person who failed to tell him the July 4th hydrofoil video to the tune of Country Road was a horrible idea.

Hey, maybe don’t do that, you obtuse android.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are FIVE copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

One America Haters

According to a report by Reuters, which is an actual news source, AT&T helped create the far-right NON-news source One America News (OAN). Reuters’ report has been confirmed by CNN another legitimate news source. Why is this significant? Because AT&T owns CNN.

Full disclosure time: I work for CNN. I am a freelancer who provides one cartoon each week for the CNN Opinion newsletter. But I’m still a small fish in the grand scheme of things and I’m probably more on AT&T’s radar as a customer than I am as a freelance employee. Ya’ see, my wireless service is through AT&T. My iPhone was purchased at AT&T. My iPad was also purchased at AT&T. I am making payments to AT&T each month for my wireless service, iPhone, and iPad. Fun fact: This cartoon poking fun at AT&T was drawn on an iPad purchased from AT&T. Also, this cartoon making fun of Facebook has already been posted on Facebook. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Anyway…CNN has covered this story as they should. They cover criticism of competing networks and other news outlets all the time. As fair and responsible journalists, they are required to cover it. Check out this clip of Don Lemon and Oliver Darcy. Lemon and Darcy are not the only CNN people to tackle this subject. Don Lemon said what airs from OAN is as “corrosive as anything that comes from Facebook.”

One America News is NOT a news source. It’s a conspiracy network, but AT&T, which owns Time Warner, probably views it as just another revenue stream to put on TV like Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodean (I don’t know who owns those but they’re on AT&T platforms). Now, with OAN, we have the Yee-Haw Network.

Robert Herring, who is the founder and chief executive of OAN, has testified that the inspiration to launch his network in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

AT&T-owns television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV. AT&T is the largest communications company on the planet. They’re bigger than Oprah. According to Herring in a 2019 deposition, “They (AT&T) told us they wanted a conservative network. They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other (liberals) side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.” Now, according to a 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, AT&T accounts for 90 percent of OAN’s revenue.

Herring has testified he was offered $250 million for OAN in 2019. Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value “would be zero.”

Take one moment to let this sink in: If it wasn’t for the owners of CNN, how much would Fox News be worth? Fox News is on those same platforms.

AT&T may be looking to break CNN off from Time Warner and sell it to pay off debts, which makes you wonder if AT&T views CNN, one of the nation’s best news outlets, the same way they view OAN, one of America’s most notorious bullshit outlets. Corporations may only see dollar signs.

While AT&T can claim responsibility for facts and journalism being provided to the world from the USA’s best news network, they’re also responsible for helping push lies and conspiracy theories about the Big Lie Trump won the election and spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

AT&T defended itself saying it’s not a revenue stream for OAN and they initially refused to carry the network on DirecTV, but did cave after OAN sued them. AT&T says they don’t control any programming and any decisions to continue carrying OAN will be up to DirecTV, which has been spun off into its own separate company….with 70 percent still owned by AT&T (somebody does research. Cough. Cough).

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement issued on Wednesday, “We are outraged to learn that AT&T has been funneling tens of millions of dollars into OAN since the network’s inception. As a result, AT&T has caused irreparable damage to our democracy. The press should inform the American public with facts, not far-right propaganda and conspiracy theories.”

AT&T may not be the press, but they are caretakers of journalism and a media giant. There should be corporate responsibility. Hell, I get mad at news outlets for publishing far-right conspiracy MAGAt cartoons, and the syndicates that distribute them. For syndicates like Cagle Cartoon and my former agency, Creators Syndicate, there’s no accepted responsibility for poisoning our nation with toxic bullshit. While all sides should be presented equally, there should be a line that stops at conspiracy theories. It’s bad enough news outlets have to quote Donald Trump.

I’m sure executives at AT&T aren’t writing copy for OAN, which is a network for people who find Tucker Carlson too woke. But, according to these reports, there wouldn’t be an OAN to poison our nation if it wasn’t for the efforts and enthusiasm of executives at AT&T.

And if AT&T gets mad at me for this, Hey, AT&T guys….I’m just an insignificant small fry. Nobody cares about me. Nobody reads this blog. Look at Don Lemon! Yeah, that guy was doing all sorts of smack-talking about you, and he was doing it in front of millions of viewers. Did you hear him say “corrosive”? You should go deal with him and ignore what’s going on over here. Tomorrow, I might go back to making jokes about Nickelback. I’m crazy. Nobody listens to me. Also, have I told you how much I love the iPad you sold me? It’s really wonderful and the iPhone, don’t get me started. I love the way my iPad rides on my iPhone’s hotspot when I leave my home…and did I mention I bought Airpods too? See? I’m not that bad. Right? Hello?

Another fun fact: It’s time for me to draw this week’s cartoon for CNN. Pray for me.

Creative note: I was going to put AT&T’s spokesperson, Lilly, in this cartoon. She’s to AT&T what Flo is to that insurance company and the gecko is to that other insurance company (see how well advertising works?). But, I didn’t know if Lilly was known well enough and I kinda have a crush on her. So, she escaped my wrath unscathed this time. Lilly, call me.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

Zuck Face Fox Hate

It’s not surprising or new news that Facebook sells hate and division. It’s not even surprising they know this and aren’t doing much about it. The news here is that now we know they know and they know we know they know and now it’s official. Facebook actually did an internal study to find out just how bad they are, and when their suspicions were confirmed, they just nodded to each other and carried on with business as usual.

The only difference between Facebook and Fox News selling hate and false information is that Facebook stumbled upon it and Fox News built its entire business model around it. Fox News didn’t give Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, or Laura Ingraham shows and later go, “wha’aaaaat?” They’re not Stephanie Grisham who took five years to figure out Donald Trump was a vile and horrible person.

And in Fox News’ defense, they at least fired Diamond and Silk for spreading false information about Covid-19 but they still have a monetized Facebook page. Guess what they do with it.

Frances Haugen revealed herself on 60 minutes as the Facebook whistleblower. She is the former lead product manager on the company’s civic misinformation team and she leaked thousands of internal documents to The Wall Street Journal. She says she leaked the documents so that “no one can question that this is real.” I don’t think that’s going to be a problem…at least not among anyone who uses Facebook.

She told CBS’ Scott Pelley her lawyers have filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission that point to discrepancies between Facebook’s internal research and the company’s external statements on issues like hate speech and mental health. She has compared Facebook to the tobacco companies. Both have knowingly lied to Congress and the public about how toxic their products are.

Haugen explained when it comes to public safety and profits, Facebook chose profits every time, which is what big tobacco did.

For example, look what happened on January 6. Facebook, along with Twitter, were used to strategize, organize, and plot out the insurrection to overturn the government. Twitter reacted and banned thousands of accounts, including Donald Trump. Facebook followed and ditched Trump…but thousands of similar hate groups remain. For another example, there are still people on Facebook stating the terrorist attack by white nationalists was just a protest and the Capitol Police who defended it are murderers for shooting terrorist Ashley Babbitt.

People who supported terrorists on the internet used to stay in the dark web. Now they’re out in the open.

Haugen claims one internal study suggested Facebook only took action on three to five percent of hate speech and less than one percent of violence and incitement content on Facebook. But if you post a cartoon criticizing the Taliban, you may get banned for three days. And then afterward, the algorithms are set to where not as many people see that particular cartoonist’s posts, the number of likes, comments, and shares for his cartoons go down, he gets fewer hits to his website which is monetized, cutting into his income, and he gets messages from people asking, “Hey…are you OK? I haven’t seen anything new from you in weeks” despite the fact he posts a new cartoon every…single…freaking…day.

I heard that happened to somebody.

Facebook had a bad Monday. Grrr, Mondays. They woke up to a 60 minutes exposé (I know, Andréa. I can’t make accent marks) and then they had a shutdown that lasted for several hours. You may have heard about it. It was like Facebook was in Facebook jail (I stole that from a comment on Facebook).

If you were a conspiracy theorist, you might believe Facebook’s outage was intentional to remind us just how much we hate/love Facebook. And they’re right. Look how many people on Facebook made posts about Facebook’s shutdown. I have one friend (to protect him, I will not tell you his name is J.P. Trostle) who swears he’ll never use Facebook again, but returned yesterday to give a Nelson Muntz Ha-Ha to Facebook for the shutdown.

It’s perfectly fine to criticize Facebook on Facebook. How else would they see it? It’s like AOC and her tax-the-rich dress worn at a $35,000-a-plate charity event. They’re not going to get the message if she only wears it in a barrio.

The Facebook whistleblower is testifying before the Senate as I write this. That means, nothing is going to happen. She’s testifying before people who have internal documents revealing trickle-down doesn’t work but keep voting for trickle-down. She’s testifying before people who were hiding under tables during the insurrection but still voted against impeaching Trump for instigating the insurrection. She’s testifying before the people who were hiding behind drapes and on the phone with Donald Trump screaming, “Please, call off your horde of white nationalist racist terrorist goons” to no avail, but still flew down to Mar-a-Lago for photo-ops with Donald Trump while groveling at his stinky feet. She’s testifying before people who were screaming during the attack, “Save me, Capitol Police officers…save me! Barricade that door! Protect me! I don’t wanna die! YAAAAAAGHHH!” and later voted against giving the Capitol Police officers medals and honoring them as heroes. If Congress goes after Mark Zuckerberg, all he has to do is put on a MAGA hat.

Fun fact: Republicans love Facebook just as much as you do. Nazis, Klansmen, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and New York City firefighters use it just as much as Black Lives Matter, Move On, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Another fun fact: I will never stop laughing every time I see this video. This tells me Mark Zuckerger is the kind of boss that nobody who works for him can say something is a bad idea or when he looks like a moron. He needs to hire a sassy southern secretary, the type who can tell him, “Sugar, oh no. If you were going as someone who can relate to commoners, and loves something that’s not himself, you can kiss my grits ’cause that ain’t it.”

Creative license: The offices for Facebook and Fox News don’t really face each other. While Facebook’s headquarters is in California, they do have an office in New York City and it’s nowhere near Fox News, but they are both in Manhattan. Facebook is in lower Manhattan on Broadway between 8th and 9th street while Fox News is in midtown on 6th Avenue between 51st and 50th. I’m that kind of geek to know that and find it important.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

Blowing Smoke With Zuck

The Wall Street Journal has done a series on Facebook called “The Facebook Files” based on internal documents by a former employee. The whistleblower will be appearing on 60 Minutes tonight. You can be sure Zuckerberg will be watching.

The documents reveal that “elite” Facebook users are exempt from a lot of the platform’s rules, like terms of service that lands you in “Facebook jail.” Yeah, the beautiful people don’t have to worry about that. Look at Donald Trump and Twitter. How many terrorist attacks and mass shootings did the guy have to have inspired before he finally got banned?

By the way, Twitter: Why is Ben Garrison back on your platform? All he did was create a new account and is back to posting the same anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and inspiring white nationalists that you originally deleted his fuckwit ass for. The Trump cultist is posting cartoons about microchips and endorsing horse de-wormer. Twitter, you need to de-fucknut your platform. But I digress.

The documents revealed by the Journal also show Facebook’s response to human traffickers is extremely weak. For example, Matt Gaetz is still on Facebook. He doesn’t need Facebook jail. He needs real jail.

The whistleblower also revealed, which will come to a complete surprise to everyone, that connections on its platform between friends and families is actually elevating “divisive content” and increasing hate and animosity. I’d ask my two sisters how they feel about that if we were still talking and I hadn’t already blocked their MAGA asses. Girls, I said “MAGA” asses, not “MEGA.” Please don’t write me.

All that stuff is bad, but the revelation that’s received the most attention and has even led to two congressional hearings is that Instagram increases anxiety and trauma on younger users’ mental health and stigmatizes body image. Now, if the camel in my cartoon was on Instagram, some mean girls would be body-shaming his humps. Don’t worry, Joe. Your humps are as sexy as Fergie’s humps, her humps, her lovely lady lumps, from the Black Eyed Peas. Can you believe it’s been over 15 years since that song came out? Can you believe the Black Eyed Peas are still around even after releasing songs like “My Humps?” Can you believe I just put that earworm in you?

In a series of slides to defend itself (my humps. my humps. Just checking), Facebook actually admits that Instagram has made image anxiety and body shaming worse for one in three teenage girls, but they say that’s only from people who responded to its survey. So what they’re saying without knowing is that it could be worse…a lot worse.

Then, the Journal released more internal documents, including statistics indicating that 66 percent of teen girls and 40 percent of teen boys on Instagram experience “negative social comparisons,” that 52 percent of teen girls experiencing this negative social comparison say it was the result of images related to beauty, and that Instagram made pre-existing body image issues even worse in 32 percent of teen girls.

One in five teens say Instagram makes them feel worse about themselves. The research further found that Instagram had the highest impact on body and appearance comparisons relative to apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and VSCO. I don’t even know what VSCO is.

Instagram is creating image envy and they’re doing it with stuff like 0-sized models in diet tea ads, and I totally understand that image envy. I live by a college and every time a shirtless 20-year old male college student jogs by my apartment, I just want to shout from my second-story window, “I hope you get hit by a bus, you flat-stomach fuck! It’s not fair! Why? Why?” And then I eat a bunch of bacon and ice cream.

Instagram is creating these filters. The more you see these ads creating body shaming and image envy, the more your friends see them…and the more your friends see them, the more you see them. The next thing you know, you’re scrolling through Instagram crying while inhaling two pounds of bacon and a gallon of chunky fudge ice cream. I know I do that and I’m not a teenage girl (but I do think Taylor Swift is the shiznit. I’m so old, I still say “shiznit” I bet will.i.am still says “shiznit”. I just made Andréa, my copy editor, look up “will.i.am”. A few days ago, I introduced her to the word “strange” as a noun).

The slide decks Facebook created to study this details how teens spiral on Instagram, compared the experience of falling down one of these toxic rabbit holes to the stages of grief. The rabbit holes that lead to one another are bargaining, insecurity, self-described dysmorphia, anger, paralysis, and withdrawal. The main thing that creates these rabbit holes is stalking other people’s rabbit holes. Don’t stalk people’s holes, people. Taylor Swift has probably written some songs about this.

Teens are basing their bodies on those of celebrities, whose bodies are about as realistic as a Barbie doll. Nobody looks like Ryan Reynolds. Even Ryan Reynolds doesn’t look like Ryan Reynolds, that flat-stomach Canadian. Can someone up there please introduce him to poutine?

Here’s my advice: Take a break. Step away. Take a walk. Jump on a city bus and see where it takes you. Leave your phone at home. Eat some poutine and then spit it out. Watch a Ryan Reynolds movie that’s NOT “Green Lantern.” Shout expletives at jogging college students. Google to find out why Fergie left the Black Eyed Peas. Distract yourself with the real world.

Fairly recently, I was banned from Facebook for three days because I posted a cartoon saying the Taliban is mean to women. Facebook is apparently very protective of the Sex traffickers and the Taliban. I actually enjoyed that time away from Facebook. It was three days of uninterrupted bacon. I reposted the same cartoon as soon as the ban was lifted, hoping I’d get banned again…but it didn’t work.

Remember, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest (whatever people do there), LinkedIn (whatever people do there), and MySpace (if it’s still there) need you more than you need it.

Now excuse me, I think I hear some joggers approaching.

Creative note: All those teens on Instagram probably don’t even know who Joe Camel is.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw:

Biden Zucked Over

President Joe Biden started his weekend by calling out social media for allowing false information, lies, conspiracy theories, and right-wing bullshit over the coronavirus and vaccines to persist on their platforms. He said social media is “killing people.” The president (the real one, not the orange doofus in south Florida screaming at the sky and the MyPillow Guy) is right.

Sunday, Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, backed the president up and said, “These platforms have to recognize they’ve played a major role in the increase in speed and scale with which misinformation is spreading.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also called out misinformation “that is leading to people not taking the vaccine, and people are dying as a result.” She said the White House had a responsibility to raise the issue. And it does, especially after the previous administration spread lies from the White House. It’s nice to have a press secretary that calls out misinformation instead of spreading it. It’s nice to have a press secretary instead of a press goon.

Facebook fired back in a blog post and said it’s not their fault President Biden missed his goal of 70% of Americans being vaccinated by July 4th. Now, if President Biden’s goal for July 4th was to get Mark Zuckerberg to look like a billionaire douche-boy on a windsurfer doohicky thingy while holding an American flag to John Denver’s “Country Roads,” mission accomplished.

In the blog post, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity (that’s a thing?), claimed that among Facebook’s American users, vaccine hesitancy had declined by 50 percent since April, and vaccine acceptance had increased by 10 to 15 percentage points, or to over 80 percent from 70 percent. He wrote, “The fact is that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users in the U.S. has increased.” But so have the lies. Can Mr. V.P. of Integrity tell us how much resistance to vaccinations has risen? Who are they polling?

Look, Guy…getting rid of one orange flaming gasbag of lies isn’t going to do the trick. Facebook and other platforms are doing an extremely shitty job of eradicating lies. And a lot of times, you guys miss and knock out the good guys spreading facts. I know you can’t catch every piece of bullshit on a platform that has nearly three billion users, but I have personally reported lies just to see Facebook ignore them. I know people who have pages with nothing but lies. And while you’re at it, you should eject any political cartoon that’s based on a conspiracy theory or some stupid shit that Tucker said.

There are lies on Facebook that vaccines will make you sterile, plant tracking devices, cause autism, give you covid, or that it’s even safer to catch covid than to get a vaccine. I’m surprised there aren’t rumors the vaccine will give you a tail.

The anti-vaxxers aren’t just content with themselves not getting the vaccines. They’re on a propaganda campaign to convince others not to get vaccinated. They’re worst than atheists and vegans. You have never met a vegan who didn’t tell you they’re a vegan…and you’re not going to meet an anti-vaxxer who doesn’t tell you anti-vax bullshit.

Anti-vaxxers have politicized the entire thing because they want to see our nation fail. They literally cheered at CPAC when it was mentioned that we had missed the 70 percent vaccination rate. Yay! We’re all gonna die! That’s owning the libs!

These people have already proven they don’t care about democracy. They’ve even proven they don’t care about this country. So, what makes you think they care about other people’s safety? Spoiler alert: They don’t.

And there’s the concern among social media platforms that by removing bullshit that will kill Americans is stifling free speech. They really hate it when Tucker screams at them on Fox News for not giving white nationalist terrorists a platform. But here’s the thing, nobody has free speech on social media.

You do not have a right to express yourself on social media. That’s a privilege. That applies to liberals telling the truth, right-wing fucknuts telling you Jewish bears are placing tracking chips into our nation’s salmon, grandma sharing cat memes, or my friend Cindy who posts daily selfies (she’s pretty). Even when Facebook removes one of my cartoons (because they’re stupid), I don’t claim my 1st Amendment rights have been violated or claim censorship. I complain about the lack of consistency and that it didn’t actually violate their stupid community guidelines.

If you can’t say something on social media, that doesn’t mean you can’t say it.

And why did the vice-president of integrity write the blog for Facebook’s reply to the president? Was the president of integrity too busy getting high with a hooker?

Two things I can NOT get over right now is that Facebook has an integrity department and that ridiculous Mark Zuckerberg Country Roads windsurfing video. What Facebook needs is a department that tells oblivious people in the company when they’re looking like a national laughingstock.

By the way, did you know that having “Country Roads” stuck in your head will make you grow a tail?

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are SEVEN copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

Watch me draw: