Social media service Facebook apologized late Monday and restored two posts by an Arkansas state senator that called for removing "every single Muslim extremist sympathizer" from the country.
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In an emailed statement sent late Monday, a Facebook spokesman apologized for the company's removal of the two posts by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow. The statement said Rapert's remarks did not violate the company's community standards.
"The posts were removed in error and restored once we were able to investigate," the statement said. "Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong. We're very sorry about this mistake."
In a text to reporters sent Monday night, Rapert said the posts had been restored without any response from the company.
The lawmaker said he remained skeptical that the removal of his posts was a mistake, mainly because both of his remarks were taken down.
"One, I could see as an accident," Rapert said. "Two, that doesn't seem so accidental."
Rapert's initial posts came after bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey, as well as stabbings in Minnesota, which local officials have described as terrorism. The three-term lawmaker said he was praying for the victims of the attacks in one of the posts. The posts went on to say that "we need to round up every single Muslim extremist sympathizer and other anti-American crazies and detain them or deport them."
Facebook's community standards state that company administrators can remove "sensitive content or limit the audience that sees it."
A Section on 09/21/2016