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Facebook made a mistake by allowing a militia page earlier this week calling out armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wisconsin, during violent protests, the company’s chief executive said.
“It was largely an operational error. The contractors, the auditors, to whom the initial complaints were referred, basically didn’t realize this, ”said Mark Zuckerberg.
The Kenosha Guard page violated Facebook policies and was flagged by “a lot of people,” Zuckerberg said, in a video posted on that social network.
The company has adopted new guidelines in recent weeks to remove or restrict postings from groups that pose a threat to public safety.
Facebook took down the page on Wednesday after a young armed civilian allegedly killed two people and wounded a third Tuesday night during protests that followed after African-American Jacob Blake was shot seven times. on the back, by a Caucasian policeman, on Sunday.
Revealed name of agent who shot Jacob Blake. Rusten Sheskey, grandson of a police officer, came to the department 7 years ago
Zuckerberg did not apologize for the mistake, saying that, to date, Facebook has found no evidence that Kyle Rittenhouse, the alleged 17-year-old sniper, was aware of the existence of the Kenosha Guard page and the invitation that he sent members of an armed militia to go to Kenosha.
Facebook is now removing posts praising Tuesday’s shooting, according to Zuckerberg.
Still, a report published Thursday by the British newspaper The Guardian found examples of support and even fundraising messages to share on Facebook and the photo-sharing service Instagram.
Zuckerberg also contrasted the treatment given to Jacob Blake, shot seven times in the back by police, and the 17-year-old Caucasian man accused of killing two people, who carried an AR-15 weapon near the police without question, and acknowledged the civil rights demonstration that took place in Washington DC on Friday.
“There is a feeling that things are not really improving at the rate that they should, and I find that very painful and discouraging,” he said.
Zuckerberg also noted that the company is working to improve its execution, although he did not provide further details, acknowledging that the upcoming presidential elections will present even greater challenges around content polarization.
“There is a real, ongoing and growing risk in elections during this highly charged, polarized and sensitive period,” he concluded.
The police violence that left Blake seriously injured in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday was the pretext to trigger popular demonstrations that caught in front of him militias made up of Caucasians, which resulted in the death of two people, shot to death by a militiaman .
The perpetrator of the two deaths, Kyle Rittenhouse, has been charged with five crimes, including willful first degree murder and reckless first degree murder, as well as possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, charges that can cost him a life imprisonment. .
The police violence case against Jacob Blake came about three months after the death of African American George Floyd, who was suffocated by a Caucasian policeman on May 25 in Minneapolis.
