Facebook censors quarantine-opposing event posts in states with enforced lockdowns

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Facebook is to restrict event postings aimed to protest and violate lockdown restrictions of many states across the country.
• Over the weekend, several demonstrators gathered on different states and asked for the lifting of stay-at-home measures.
• Health officials warned that mass gatherings could lead to grave results amidst the coronavirus crisis.

The largest social media platform, Facebook, is not in good terms with anti-quarantine campaigners.

The social network company has taken down events created by activists in states like New Jersey, California, and Nebraska, where there are reportedly thousands of masked and unmasked people who protested against stay at home orders amidst the coronavirus crisis.

A representative for the company told The Post that Facebook would allow any event to be organized posts on the page, except in cases where the government disallows such. The spokesperson further noted that any dealings that would go against the authorities’ measures on social distancing would not be permitted.

Event postings were banned in states where there are protests in violation of home isolation orders. Demonstrations are growing throughout the nation over states’ stay-at-home measures,  and many protesters were saying that test facilities are enough to reopen businesses.

However, public health officials heavily cautioned that it is not yet time to lift the restrictions.

On the recent weekend, demonstrations are conducted in cities such as Colorado and Denver,  where a group of strikers faced the front line health workers in an argument about social distancing.

In  California, activists brought signs that demands to open the state again, and saying that beaches should be reopened as well.

One of the protesters, Nicole Brown, told the Orange County Register during a demonstration in Huntington Beach, California, that the government stripped away their freedom as people are locked inside their homes.

On a rally initiated by conspiracy theory website, InfoWars, host Owen Shroyer, in Austin Texas, protesters are urging the government to let them go back to work.

Texas has already exceeded  18,200 COVID-19 cases with no less than 453 casualties because of the virus.

Health experts continuously warned that gatherings could have grave consequences. This was recently evident in Kentucky, where a one-day highest surge in coronavirus cases happened after demonstrators gathered on the state asking for the lifting of lockdown measures.

In the past few days, several rallies also happened in Ohio, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan, Utah, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Washington.

Several of these rallies are set up through Facebook, and the social network recently announced that it is to ban the event posts over states that have implemented stay-at-home restrictions.

A recent poll conducted by NBC News with theWall Street Journal showed that the demonstrators are mostly from the minority, noting that 32 percent of the survey participants are worried that the lockdowns will continue longer

Source: New York Post