Facebook bans some anti-lockdown protest pages
by Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland from Technology | The Guardian on (#52E0E)
The move raises thorny questions about civil rights amid the coronavirus pandemic
Facebook said on Monday that it was banning users from organizing "events that defy government's guidance on social distancing". The company's decision to selectively enforce state public health orders came amid a spate of rallies protesting against statewide stay-at-home orders in cities cross the US, and it drew condemnation from rightwing supporters of the protest movement, Donald Trump Jr and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The controversy highlighted the challenges that arise when a private company controls so much of the digital "public square" - especially at a time when access to physical public squares is limited by public health orders.
Continue reading...