Facebook to remove content containing 'stop the steal' phrase
What's the story
Facebook has announced that it would remove all the content from its platform containing the phrase "stop the steal," which is being used by outgoing US President Donald Trump's supporters to allege election fraud. Trump and his supporters believe that there was massive voter fraud during the November 3 elections and have been using this phrase to often hold protests through social media outlets.
Details
Removing content under Coordinating Harm Policy: Facebook
Guy Rosen, Vice President, Integrity, and Monika Bickert, VP, Global Policy Management, said in a blog post, "We are now removing content containing the phrase 'stop the steal' under our Coordinating Harm Policy from Facebook and Instagram." "We removed the original "Stop the Steal" group in November and have continued to remove pages, groups, and events that violate any of our policies," they added.
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Step taken in the lead up to the inauguration
Facebook said, "With continued attempts to organize events against the outcome of the US presidential election that can lead to violence, the additional step is being taken in the lead up to the inauguration."
Facebook posts
Have already removed significant number of posts: Facebook
The officials said, "It may take some time to scale up our enforcement of this new step but we have already removed a significant number of posts." Noting that they began preparing for Inauguration Day last year, Facebook said their planning took on new urgency after last week's violence and it is treating the next two weeks as a major civic event.
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Additional steps being taken to stop spread of misinformation
Facebook said, "We're taking additional steps and using the same teams and technologies we used during the general election to stop misinformation and content that could incite further violence during these next few weeks."
Facebook news
News digest to enable access to reliable information about inauguration
During the inauguration week, Facebook said it would add a news digest to Facebook News to find reliable news about the inauguration. "This will include a live video of the inauguration at the US Capitol on January 20. Facebook News often includes news digests dedicated to events of national or global significance with stories selected by the curation team," it said.
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We aren't allowing any ads from politicians: Facebook
Facebook further informed that in addition to the indefinite suspension of Trump's account, the company is keeping its pause in place on all ads in the US about politics or elections. "This means that we aren't allowing any ads from politicians," it added.