Facebook blocks posts promoting anti-lockdown protests during COVID-19 pandemic

On April 20, 2020, Facebook announced it would begin blocking users and posts that critiqued stay-at-home orders enacted across the United States in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move drew wide criticism from conservatives, including Donald Trump Jr. Facebook said it would remove posts organizing public anti-lockdown protests created through the platform’s Events feature, but other posts on news feeds and in closed groups may not be removed.

Key Player

Facebook is a worldwide social media platform on which users can gather and communicate in virtual groups and organize social gatherings. It maintains that anti-lockdown gatherings created through its Events feature are in direct violation of states’ social distancing guidelines, according to CNN. 

Further Details

Facebook’s decision mirrors other efforts it took to tackle misinformation spread about the COVID-19 coronavirus. On April 16, 2020, Facebook announced it would start notifying users when they like, comment on, or share articles containing misinformation about coronavirus and potential cures, according to Slate. 

Many have used Facebook to organize anti-lockdown events. The Washington Post reports that a “trio of far-right, pro-gun provocateurs” — Ben Dorr, political director of the nonprofit Minnesota Gun Rights, and his two siblings — has been behind some of the largest gatherings. 

Facebook decided which posts to remove by consulting individual states and their respective social-distancing guidelines, Slate reports. “We reached out to state officials to understand the scope of their orders, not about removing specific protests on Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told Politico. “We remove the posts when gatherings do not follow the health parameters established by the government and are therefore unlawful.” The impetus to remove unlawful content traces back to a 2019 ruling by the top court in the European Union, which ordered that Facebook and other social media platforms remove or block access to any illegal material, including in some instances content that is “equivalent,” according to The Washington Post, and as we covered here. The ruling makes it possible for judges to order that content be taken down worldwide, “within the framework of the relevant international law,” the Post reported. In an internal Facebook meeting that was streamed on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page, the CEO called the decision “a very troubling precedent to set.”

Over the course of the week beginning April 13, 2020, groups ranging in size from 100 to 4,000 gathered in Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, New York, and Minnesota to protest state lockdown orders, according to Slate, with more planned soon thereafter. One Pennsylvania-based group composed of citizens against “excessive quarantine” gained more than 66,000 followers in a week, CNN reports.  

The protests served as a response to stay-at-home orders many states put in place in an attempt to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, which, by May 11, 2020, had infected approximately 1.38 million people and killed approximately 80,000 across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Common refrains among protestors were that the lockdown orders restrict individual freedoms and hurt the economy, given that large numbers of businesses were forced to shutter and millions were let go from their jobs. 

This surge of protests across the nation was encouraged by President Donald Trump and other conservatives via Twitter. On April 17, the president tweeted, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” and then, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and finally, “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” The Washington Post suggested that such actions violate federal law, as the tweets represent a “tacit encouragement to citizens to take up arms against duly elected state officials … in response to sometimes unpopular but legally issued stay-at-home orders.” Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren, in a tweet that has since been deleted, said that compliance with stay-at-home orders is “starting to look a whole lot like willful slavery” .

Outcome

Divisions arise among protesters over motives for anti-lockdown demonstrations

Kirk Durbin, founder of Reopen Pennsylvania, an anti-lockdown group that focuses largely on letter-writing and other forms of peaceful protest, told Slate he hopes the organization stays focused on two issues: protection of small businesses and resistance to “massive overreach of government.” Durbin noted that he had seen content in other similarly motivated groups that he feels is too political and often offensive, pointing to insulting comments directed toward Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, who is a transgender woman. Other group leaders like Ron Armstrong, an administrator for the Facebook group Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine, says that he, too, is being careful about the group’s approach after its membership grew to exceed 350,000 in less than a week, according to Slate. 

Facebook removes posts for anti-lockdown protests in Wisconsin and Michigan

Events organized for April 24 in Wisconsin and April 30 in Michigan were removed by Facebook moderators for violating the states’ social-distancing guidelines. 

The Wisconsin Department of Administration, according to NBC 15 News, confirmed that a permit requesting an event scheduled for April 24 on the Capitol grounds in Madison had been denied days before. In Lansing, Michigan, an event titled “American Patriot Rally on Capitol Lawn” had been scheduled for April 30 to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to extend the state’s stay-at-home order to May 28, while allowing limited commercial reopenings, according to MLive Michigan. Hundreds gathered on the steps of the Capitol building in Lansing, many armed with assault rifles, NBC News reports. 

Stay-at-home states see lawsuits filed against them

On April 21, 2020, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to block the latest “Safer at Home” order enacted by Governor Tony Evers (D). The suit claims that Evers’ administration broke the law in its effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to Wisconsin Public Radio, which also reported that Evers accused state Republicans of putting their own quest for political power ahead of the public’s health. The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments virtually May 5, 2020, and ruled in the protesting legislators’ favor on May 13.

On April 27, 2020, two Sacramento County residents filed a federal lawsuit challenging California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) sweeping stay-at-home order that was credited with helping slow the spread of coronavirus, according to the Los Angeles Times. Filed on behalf of Ron Givens, a member of the Sacramento Gun Club, and Christine “Chris” Bish, a real estate agent and Republican candidate for Congress, the lawsuit alleges that the California Highway Patrol unconstitutionally denied their requests for permits to hold a protest outside the state Capitol.

On May 3, 2020, a collection of Maryland religious leaders, business owners, and state lawmakers filed a suit asking a federal judge to block the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan (R) from implementing stay-at-home orders throughout the state; in their place, the lawsuit argued for less restrictive alternatives, the Post reported.