Since the storming of the US Capitol last week, Facebook has experienced a spike in signals suggesting possible future acts of violence in continued efforts to overturn the presidential election, according to a report.
Among the signals tracked by the social media giant are digital flyers promoting a variety of events around President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Reuters reported.
Some of the posts have featured calls to arms or the insignia of militias or hate groups, a Facebook spokeswoman told the news outlet.
An internal FBI bulletin has warned of armed protests being planned at all state capitols in the run-up to the inauguration — less than a week after hordes of President Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bloody attempt to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s election win.
Five people, including a police officer, died in the siege.
The Facebook spokeswoman, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the pace of the company’s exchange of information with law enforcement also had likewise increased since the mayhem in DC.
After the attack on Congress, tech companies took unprecedented action to crack down on the baseless claims of election fraud that had triggered calls for violence.
Twitter and Facebook blocked Trump’s accounts, while Amazon Web Services and the major mobile app stores cut off social media network Parler, which became popular with right-wing activists.
On Monday, Facebook banned content promoting the rallying cry “Stop the steal” during pro-Trump protests.
The company also blocked searches for “storm the Capitol” and flagged posts that include those phrases for further review, the spokeswoman told Reuters.
On Tuesday, YouTube announced it was suspending Trump’s channel for at least a week.