Home
Social networking
Social networking News
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Says Kenosha Post Did Not Violate 'Call to Arms' Policy

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Says Kenosha Post Did Not Violate 'Call to Arms' Policy

Zuckerberg had earlier called the inaction from Facebook’s content moderators an "operational mistake."

By Reuters | Updated: 18 November 2020 11:15 IST

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Says Kenosha Post Did Not Violate 'Call to Arms' Policy

Zuckerberg's testimony contradicted what Facebook had told about how policy applied to Kenosha incident

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Kenosha Guard created a Facebook event and warned police
Facebook's call to arms policy banned events advocating bringing weapons
Facebook removed Kenosha Guard page after shooting deaths of two people

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told US senators on Tuesday that a page which posted a "call to arms" during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August had not violated the company's "call to arms" policy.

"My understanding is that that post did not necessarily violate that call to arms policy at the time," said Zuckerberg, referring to the Kenosha Guard's calls for people to "take up arms" and defend the city from "evil thugs."

Muslim Advocates Executive Director Farhana Khera said Zuckerberg's testimony directly contradicted what Facebook had told civil rights organisations about how its "call to arms" policy applied to the Kenosha incident.

Facebook Removes Accounts of 17-Year-Old Arrested Over US Shootings

"Facebook's constantly changing explanations of why the policy failed and how it even works adds further evidence that the company isn't serious about creating policies that will actually protect our safety and security," she said in a statement.

Facebook eventually removed the Kenosha Guard page after the shooting deaths of two people during the protests, saying it violated a separate rule against "militia organisations."

The Kenosha Guard also created a Facebook event and warned police they would be "outnumbered." Facebook reportedly received 455 user reports flagging that event, but that content moderators determined it did not violate the company's policies. Zuckerberg has called that inaction an "operational mistake."

Facebook Failure to Remove Militia Page a 'Mistake': Zuckerberg

Facebook's "call to arms" policy, announced last year along with a scathing civil rights audit of the company, banned events that advocate bringing weapons to locations like schools and houses of worship to harass others based on their identity.

A Facebook spokeswoman told Reuters the policy applies to some protests, if they have a high risk for violence, but declined to respond to a question on whether the company had designated Kenosha as high risk.

In introducing the policy last year, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said it barred "posts from people who intend to bring weapons anywhere to intimidate or harass others, or who encourage people to do the same."

Will Apple Silicon Lead to Affordable MacBooks in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.