The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Safe haven’ for hate
NEWTOWN – The parents of a boy slain in the Sandy Hook massacre say they are being traumatized all over again because Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg provides conspiracy extremists with “a safe haven for hate.”
Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose 6-year-old son, Noah, was murdered with 19 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook School in 2012, published an open letter to Zuckerberg Wednesday in The Guardian asking Facebook to ban harassing posts by conspiracy theorists who say Connecticut’s worst crime never happened.
“These groups use social media, including Facebook, to “hunt” us, posting our home address and videos of our
house online,” Pozner and De La Rosa wrote. “Our families are in danger as a direct result of the hundreds of thousands of people who see and believe the lies and hate speech, which you have decided should be protected.”
The parents’ letter, which calls on Facebook to treat mass shootings victims as a protected group, was the last thing the social media giant wanted to hear on Thursday, as the company suffered its worst day in the market.
Facebook’s value fell more than $100 billion and its stock plunged 18 percent Thursday on disappointing second-quarter earnings, reports that its user growth was slowing, and privacy concerns about how information is used.
At the same time, Facebook is cracking down on misinformation after months of Congressional criticism that it ran 3,000 Russian-backed ads designed to divide Americans during the 2016 political season.
Facebook responded to the Sandy Hook parents with a statement saying its heart goes out to Pozner,
De La Rosa, and “all families who have lost people as a result of senseless shootings.”
“Although we do see people come together on Facebook in very positive ways around tragedies, some of what we see is truly abhorrent and represents the worst of the internet and humanity,” the statement said.
“We recognize victims of mass shootings and other tragedies are vulnerable to offensive and incendiary comments, and we don’t allow attacks against them,” the Facebook statement continued. “For example, we don’t allow people to mock, harass or bully the victims of tragedies. This includes the types of claims in the letter that victims are crisis actors. We also don’t allow people to celebrate, justify or defend the tragedy in any way.”
The parents, who could not be reached for comment at their Florida homes on Thursday, do not name leading conspiracy extremist Alex Jones in their letter. But they allude to the Texas-based operator of InfoWars, who has said the Sandy Hook shooting was “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax” and “completely fake with actors,” with “inside job written all over it.”
Pozner, De La Rosa, and other Sandy Hook families have filed defamation lawsuits against Jones and his InfoWars program.
Jones, who could not be reached for comment, sought to dismiss one of those defamation lawsuits last week in state Superior Court.
Jones’ lawyers, who acknowledged he had called the Sandy Hook shooting a hoax but now believe it happened, argued in court papers that he had a right to be wrong.
Meanwhile, YouTube confirmed Thursday that it had taken down four videos from Jones’ YouTube channel for violating the company’s graphic content policy, and suspended Jones from broadcasting live for 90 days.