We made a mistake by not removing militia post, says Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook made a mistake by not removing a militia group’s page earlier this week that called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid violent protests after police shot Jacob Blake, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

The page for the “Kenosha Guard” violated Facebook’s policies and had been flagged by “a bunch of people,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Friday on Facebook. The social media giant has, in recent weeks, adopted new guidelines removing or restricting posts from groups that pose a threat to public safety.

Facebook took down the page on Wednesday, after an armed civilian allegedly killed two people and wounded a third on Tuesday night amid protests in Kenosha that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black.

“It was largely an operational mistake,” Zuckerberg said. “The contractors, the reviewers, who the initial complaints were funneled to, didn’t pick this up.” Zuckerberg did not apologise for the error.