Facebook blocks new events close to White House, US Capitol through Inauguration Day – CNET [CNET]

Facebook on Friday said it’s blocking the creation of new events on its platform that take place close to locations including the White house, US Capitol and state capitol buildings through Inauguration Day. The measure is designed to “further prevent people from trying to use our services to incite violence,” the company said in a post.  

This comes after a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol last week. Reports say the US could see more armed protests across the country in the lead-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.

Following the Jan. 6 insurrection, social media companies including Facebook and Twitter faced pressure to suspend the president’s accounts after he used social media to push false claims of election fraud, which many say incited the violence. Twitter permanently banned Trump, and Facebook blocked him indefinitely. 

Facebook also said its operations center will conduct a secondary review of all Facebook events tied to the inauguration, and remove anything that violates its policies. It’s also continuing to block the creation of US events by non-US-based accounts and Pages. 

The company is also restricting some features for US-based users who have repeatedly violated Facebook’s policies, including blocking them from creating live videos or an event, Group or Page.