Facebook removes posts on some anti-lockdown protests for ‘harmful misinformation’

Facebook has started blocking people from organizing in-person protests against lockdowns and quarantines in some states on the platform, Politico reports.

The social network has removed such posts in California, Nebraska and New Jersey, all of which are under social-distancing orders, according to the publication.

“Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook,” said a company spokesperson, The New York Post reported. “For this same reason, events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook.”

Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, said the site will remove Facebook Events posts about in-person protests in the three states, but might leave up other posts and Facebook groups about the events, CNN reported.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed Monday that the social network is removing some anti-quarantine protest announcements, ABC News reported.

“We do classify that as harmful misinformation and we take that down at the same time,” Zuckerberg said, according to the network.

“It’s important that people can debate policy, so there’s a line on this,” Zuckerberg said, ABC News reported. “But, you know, more than normal political discourse, I think a lot of the stuff that people are saying that is false around a health emergency like this can be classified as harmful misinformation.”

A Facebook spokesperson said the events were removed at the request of state governments, Politico reported.

But a spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska denied his office had asked Facebook to block any posts, The Omaha World-Herald reported.

Spokesman Taylor Gage said Facebook had reached out to the governor’s office last week for more information on the state’s social distancing policies.

Alyana Alfaro Post, a spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, also denied requesting removal of posts about protests, but said his office had been communicating with Facebook on the issue, CNN reported.

Protests against lockdown, stay-home and shelter-in-place orders have taken place in several states, The Washington Post reported. Protesters say the orders are excessive, with some call the pandemic a hoax.

“If people feel that way, you’re allowed to protest,” said President Donald Trump on Sunday. “Some governors have gone too far, some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate.”

On Friday, Trump made a series of Twitter posts urging people to “liberate” their states.

More than 2.4 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 166,000 deaths as of April 20, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 761,000 confirmed cases with more than 40,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Facebook removes posts on some anti-lockdown protests for ‘harmful misinformation’."