Fears that Facebook has BANNED the Lord's Prayer go viral but it's a hoax

SHARING the Lord's Prayer is now banned on Facebook, according to a false conspiracy theory.

Dozens of users on the social media site have alleged in recent weeks that it's against Facebook's policies to post the short Christian prayer.

However, all is not as it seems: The theory is a hoax that has been debunked by multiple factcheckers.

Posts about the Lord's Prayer "ban" began appearing on Facebook in mid-June.  The rumour urges readers to post the prayer to their timeline.

"THIS IS SO SAD," one example post reads.

"After hearing Facebook is saying that posting the Lord’s Prayer goes against their policies, I’m asking all Christians to please post the Lord’s Prayer."

The viral hoax includes a copy the Lord's Prayer in full so users can copy and paste it onto their own timelines.

Various fact-checkers have now shown that reports claiming the prayer is banned on Facebook are false.

This is evident in the fact that many users responding to it with copies of the prayer in full have not been taken down.

Facebook also told fact checking website Lead Stories that the prayer does not violate its policies.

"Nowhere in its community standards does Facebook mention taking down Christian, or religious content," fact checking site FullFact wrote this week.

"The claim may have stemmed from a 2016 article which claimed that all 'Christian themed content' would be banned from the website.

"That article cites a Facebook representative called 'Riker Jepson', whose name only appears online in relation to articles making the same claim."

The site added that other similar claims that Facebook is blocking religious content have been circulating since at least 2014.

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What do you think of the hoax? Let us know in the comments!

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