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Facebook banning 'stop the steal' posts, removing content that could be public threat

Following last week's U.S. Capitol riot, Facebook says it will continue to remove content and disable accounts if they constitute a risk to public safety.

Facebook says it's deploying the measures it used to curb disinformation ahead of the presidential election to stop content that could lead to more violence in and around President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. That includes removing all content with the phrase "stop the steal."

"We’ve been allowing robust conversations related to the election outcome and that will continue," read a statement from Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, and Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy Management. "But with continued attempts to organize events against the outcome of the US presidential election that can lead to violence, and use of the term by those involved in Wednesday’s violence in DC, we’re taking this additional step in the lead up to the inauguration."

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Facebook says it will continue to remove content and disable accounts if they constitute a risk to public safety.

Big tech companies have been clamping down on posts that may incite violence following last Wednesday's riot at the U.S. Capitol. A mob of Pro-Trump supporters stormed the building, encouraged by President Donald Trump's continued unproven claims that the election was stolen from him and fomented, in part, on social media. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer.

Twitter banned Trump from its platform on Friday and Facebook has suspended his account until after the inauguration. The conservative-friendly social network Parler was booted off Amazon's web-hosting service Monday over ties to last week’s siege. Parler is suing, saying Amazon breached its contract.

Facebook says it's also keeping its ban in place on ads about politics or elections.

Biden won the Electoral College over Trump 306-232 and won the popular vote by more than 7 million. Elections officials and former Attorney General William Barr have said there was not widespread fraud on a level that would have cost Trump the election.

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