A group of die-hard Fallout 76 The fans signed up one day and found that their usual stomping places were again blocked by Facebook. It is critical that online gaming communities have a place to gather, organize, and coordinate outside of the game itself. However, the Free State Militia notes that this is more difficult than they could ever have realized.
The Free State Militia is a popular and sociable group in Fail 76whose members take part in the game’s major role-playing wars and social events. They have been removed from Facebook twice from the platform’s moderation system. Without proper communication from Facebook, the Free States players have assumed their most recent suspension was linked to the Uprising at the US Capitol on January 6th. Facebook did not respond to a request for a comment.
The Free States are an actual faction in Fallout 76. After the nuclear war and the fall of American civilization, the Free States banded together to maintain an independent presence in Appalachians, free from the tyranny of factions like the Enclave or the Brotherhood of Steel.
The Free State Council Big Boss, who plays under the influence of Non_Serviam79, spoke to Polygon via DMs about the unique problem the group is facing.
Non_Serviam79, whose real name is Bobby, decided to stay on Facebook after the first moderation issue in October 2020. “Unfortunately, Facebook is the easiest platform to reach thousands of people at the same time, and we won’t have that advantage anymore,” he notes. The Free State Militia was in the middle makes a great gift with other role play groupsand now they have no way of promoting that.
Her Twitter page has a little over 440 followers by comparison. “We’re going to switch to Discord and our team will design it as we speak,” says Bobby. Although Discord is an excellent chat client, it lacks the advertising and networking features that role-playing groups on Facebook rely on.
The Free State Council meets in a secret bunker deep in the swamp to finalize the plans #Walk away of @Facebook about their censorship and banning process.
We are all old enough to choose how to speak and what words to use. We will not be intimidated! pic.twitter.com/3baIHnkA8r
– FSM Playstation Video Game Club (@Free_StatesMil) January 12, 2021
The Free State Militia has not received a full explanation of the suspension, nor has it been able to speak to anyone on Facebook about it. Bobby provided a screenshot of the shutdown that read, “You won’t be able to comment until February 7th. You’ve posted things that don’t meet our community standards more than once.”
Facebook has Politics against “violence and criminal behavior”, These include incitement, discussions about public harm and “organizations or individuals who proclaim a violent mission or are involved in violence”. Bobby denies that the Free State militia violated these guidelines.
“The Facebook page is 100% affiliated with Fallout,” says Bobby. “I would say 90% of the page is lore. We write our stories in accordance with 76Free States Militia faction. 5% are group events and 5% are in-game photos. [We write] about our individual characters and their adventures in the wasteland. “
The Free States militia has tried to keep things friendly for Facebook. “At first we thought the word ‘militia’ was the problem,” says Bobby. The group tried to encode the word with special characters, with combinations like m! 
