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Facebook lifts restrictions on praising, searching for Kyle Rittenhouse after acquittal

The company faced criticism from conservatives for calling the shootings a ‘mass murder’

Kyle Rittenhouse during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 19. (Sean Krajacic/Pool/Reuters)
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Facebook has lifted restrictions on users praising or searching for the name of Kyle Rittenhouse after he was acquitted of all charges for fatally shooting two people and injuring another in Kenosha, Wis., last year amid a wave of protests against police violence.

It shifts a policy implemented days after the Aug. 25, 2020, shootings, when the company said it had removed Rittenhouse’s accounts on both Facebook and Instagram, in addition to “removing praise and support of the shooter” and blocking “searches of his name on our platforms.”

Conservatives accuse social networks of prejudging Kyle Rittenhouse case

“After the verdict in Kenosha we rolled back the restrictions we had in place that limited search results from returning content related to key terms including Kyle Rittenhouse,” Andy Stone, spokesman for parent company Meta, said in a statement. “While we will still remove content that celebrates the death of the individuals killed in Kenosha, we will no longer remove content containing praise or support of Rittenhouse.”

Rittenhouse will be allowed to rejoin the platforms either through creating new accounts or by asking for his previously removed accounts to be restored, but will be subject to their terms of service, Stone said.

The company’s reversal on the search-blocking policy was first reported by the BBC.

Rittenhouse’s case became a partisan pain point, with conservative leaders accusing Facebook and other social media companies of implementing policies that revealed prejudice in the case, which ignited a polarizing national debate over guns, race and self-defense.

Facebook faced particular blowback after Brian Fishman, the company’s former policy director for counterterrorism and dangerous organizations, publicly said the company designated the shooting as a “mass murder” in August 2020.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), an outspoken critic of Facebook and other social media giants, said in a statement last month that tech companies “made up their minds on this case months ago, sought to deny Kyle Rittenhouse the presumption of innocence and censored those who disagreed.”

Fishman announced on Oct. 28 that he had “decided to leave Facebook to pursue other opportunities.” Fishman said his last day was Nov. 19, the day the jury rendered a ruling in Rittenhouse’s case.

In a pair of tweets Wednesday, Fishman said he had “relayed a Facebook internal decision using the term of art used by the company” when he called the shooting a “mass murder.” He said the timing of his departure aligning with the verdict was “entirely coincidental.”

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