Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company made an “operational mistake” by not removing a militia page that invited people to bring weapons to a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before two people were killed there.
BuzzFeed reported that an event on the Kenosha Guard page, billed as a call for armed citizens to protect lives and property, was flagged by users at least 455 times but stayed up. According to BuzzFeed, four moderators reviewed the reports and decided the page did not break Facebook’s rules. An employee told the outlet the page accounted for about two thirds of all event reports in a single day.
The page and event were taken down hours after the shooting.
In a company meeting, Zuckerberg explained what went wrong. He said the contractors and reviewers who first received the complaints did not catch it, and that on a second, more careful review, the team that handles dangerous organizations found it violated the rules and removed it.
Zuckerberg also said the teenager arrested in the shooting was not believed to have any connection to the Facebook group. Facebook has not said whether it will change how event reports are reviewed.
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