Facebook has agreed to remove some so-called tribute pages related to last year’s Connecticut school shooting over concerns that they’re being used to exploit the tragedy, US Senator Richard Blumenthal has said.
Blumenthal and other lawmakers from the State have requested for the removal of offending pages in a letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
The lawmakers said some pages purportedly set up to honour the victims of the December 14 shooting have been used to exploit or harass the victims’ families and could be used as vehicles for financial fraud.
The lawmakers said the pages also appear to violate Facebook’s terms of use, which prohibit users from creating accounts for anyone other than themselves.
In the letter, the lawmakers said they know of more than 100 pages dedicated to just one of the victims, teacher Victoria Soto. Some contain postings from conspiracy theorists who claim the shootings were staged and that Soto and others were actors.
The lawmakers said Facebook also had received complaints from Soto’s family and the family of Kaitlin Roig, a teacher who survived and has been credited with saving the lives of her students by locking the class in a small bathroom and barricading the door.
A Facebook page titled “Kaitlin Roig is a Hero” prompted some abusive posts, such as one that reads, “Congratulations Kaitlin or whatever your name is... Now you’re famous and got to meet the ‘President.’ You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Blumenthal said his office received a phone call from Facebook officials saying that they had begun removing the pages immediately.
Facebook did not immediately reply to an email request for comment.
Blumenthal said they are not asking that all tribute or donation pages be removed, just the ones that are not authorised by the families.