‘Free from censorship’: an anonymous, Brumfess-style page posts racist and anti-BLM confessions

Content warning: this article contains racist and transphobic comments.

A new anonymous confessions site for UoB students has been set up on Facebook, and has been publishing racist and bigoted comments, particularly against the Black Lives Matter movement.

Posts include statements such as “George Floyd had it coming”, “black people should just get jobs and stop bitching”, and “white lives matter Burnley!”

The page was set up on 24 June, and encourages students to speak “freely from censorship”, following a Brumfess moderator announcement that “posts replying to specific political submissions will not be uploaded” at the current time. In the page description for ‘Brumfree’, the moderators include a famous Voltaire quote: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

Other posts condemn the Black Lives Matter movement, with one confession stating that “Libertarians will crush the BLM movement and leave their guts on the street.”

Some of the confessions are similar in style to those posted on Brumfess, including several of the original page’s posts. Brumfess released a comment at 4.30pm, making clear that Brumfree was not affiliated with their page, stating that they “wish to take this opportunity to condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Brumfree for posting content that is incredibly racist, inflammatory, and disrespectful.” When contacted for comment, the moderators told The Birmingham Tab that they  had nothing further to say on the matter for now.

Speaking to The Birmingham Tab, the Guild President, Joshua Williams, adamantly condemned the page. “I am in awe that anybody would feel it acceptable to create a platform with the sole purpose of platforming racist and discriminatory comments.”