U.S. media outlet The National Archives reported Monday (Jan. 11) that Facebook Vice President Guy Rosen and Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy management, said in a statement from the company that Facebook and Instant Messenger have begun removing all content containing the phrase “Stop The Steal,” claiming that the phrase is associated with violence. The Steal,” claiming that the phrase “stop this theft” is associated with violence. This is the latest move by Facebook to ban free speech, following protests on Capitol Hill.
In a statement, Facebook said, “We have always allowed for heated conversations related to the election results and will continue to do so. However, because people have been working to organize events against the outcome of the U.S. presidential election that could lead to violence, and because the term “Stop The Steal” was used in the Jan. 6 violence in Washington, D.C., we are taking this additional step in advance of the inauguration of the next president. This additional step was taken before the inauguration of the next president. While it may take time to ramp up the new initiative, we have already removed a significant number of posts. “
The Facebook statement also asserted, “We removed the Stop The Steal Facebook group in November and will continue to remove pages, groups and events that violate any of our policies, including calls for violence.” Facebook has banned people from sharing photos or videos of protesters; any praise for the protests, and any calls to break Washington’s recent curfew for further peaceful protests, have also been removed.
Ali Alexander, one of the founders of “Stop This Theft,” the name used by pro-Trump patriots protesting on Capitol Hill, also suffered multiple bans after the storming of the Capitol, with his Twitter account permanently banned and his PayPal and Venmo accounts shut down on Jan. 10.
In his Facebook ban following the Jan. 6 Capitol onslaught, Zuckerberg argued that the shocking events of the past 24 hours prove that Trump intends to use the remainder of his term to derail a peaceful and collegial transition to his successor, Joe Biden’s regime.” After reviewing the president’s call for protesters to stop storming the Capitol, Zuckerberg continued to claim that President Trump used Facebook to “condone, not condemn,” the actions.
Last week, President Trump’s Facebook and Instant Messenger accounts were suspended, while many platforms, including Twitter, permanently blocked President Trump’s account.
Alternative social media platforms such as Gab, Parler and Rumble have flourished since large tech companies joined forces to crack down on President Trump and his supporters. After President Trump was removed from Twitter, Gab reported a 750 percent increase in traffic to the platform, and Parler said it had seen a 355 percent increase in downloads of its App. On Monday morning, Parra’s servers were shut down by Amazon, and the company is now suing Amazon Web Services (AWS), claiming they colluded with Twitter.
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