Just days before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Facebook announced Friday that it will no longer allow people to host new events near the White House, the US Capitol, or other state capital buildings until after Inauguration Day.
Facebook will also review all inauguration-related events and remove events that violate site policies, and block events created in the US by accounts and pages located outside the US.
“We are following signs of violence or other threats in Washington, DC and all 50 states,” Facebook said in a statement. “… as we did in the weeks following the presidential election, we are promoting accurate information about the elections and the violence in the Capitol, rather than content that our systems predict to be less accurate, delegitimize the election, or victimize the rioters. depicts. ”
Facebook also said it continues to pause political ads and restrict certain functions to users in the US “who repeatedly violate policies.” Affected people cannot create live videos or create events, groups, or pages.
Facebook made the announcement hours after CBS News learned that the Department of Homeland Security said domestic extremists are the biggest threat to Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
DHS has issued an intelligence briefing stating that some extremists think Mr. Biden will not be a legitimate president. DHS also warned that there may be violence against federal buildings, law enforcement officers and government officials.
Social media sites have tightened their content moderation since the January 6 deadly attack on the Capitol. Twitter has Permanently Banned the president and Amazon Parler kicked of its web hosting services for non-moderation of content.
On Wednesday, Airbnb announced that all reservations in the Washington DC area were canceled next week and that no new reservations will be allowed in the area during that time. The decision, Airbnb said, is because of “ several local, state and federal officials asking people not to travel to Washington, DC. ” The hospitality site also said they are aware that armed militias and hate groups are planning to block the presence of Mr. inauguration.