news/GOOG/2023.01.09/Facebook, YouTube remove content backing Brazil attack.txt

(Adds comments from YouTube, Telegram)STOCKHOLM/LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Facebook parent Meta
and Google's video platform YouTube said on
Monday they were removing content supporting or praising the
weekend ransacking of Brazilian government buildings by
anti-democratic demonstrators.Tens of thousands of supporters of Brazil's far-right former
President Jair Bolsonaro smashed presidential palace windows,
flooded parts of Congress with a sprinkler system and ransacked
rooms in the Supreme Court in a more than three hour uprising."In advance of the election, we designated Brazil as a
temporary high-risk location and have been removing content
calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress,
the Presidential palace and other federal buildings," a Meta
spokesman said."We are also designating this as a violating event, which
means we will remove content that supports or praises these
actions," he said. "We are actively following the situation and
will continue removing content that violates our policies."Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on
Jan. 1 after defeating Bolsonaro in a runoff election in
October, ending Brazil's most right-wing government in decades.Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and some supporters have
claimed the election was stolen, with people taking to social
media and messaging platforms from Twitter, Telegram
and TikTok to YouTube and Facebook, to organise protests.A spokesperson for YouTube told Reuters that the
video-sharing company was "closely tracking" the situation in
Brazil, where social media platforms have been ordered to block
users spreading anti-democratic propaganda."Our Trust and Safety team is removing content that violates
our Community Guidelines, including livestreams and videos
inciting violence," the spokesperson said."In addition, our systems are prominently surfacing
authoritative content on our homepage, at the top of search
results, and in recommendations. We will remain vigilant as the
situation continues to unfold."'PROACTIVE MONITORING'A representative for Telegram said the private messaging app
was working with Brazil's government and fact checking groups
to prevent the spread of content inciting violence."Telegram is a platform that supports the right to free
speech and peaceful protest. Calls to violence, however, are
explicitly forbidden on our platform," a spokesperson said."Our moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring in
public-facing parts of our platform in addition to accepting
user reports, in order to remove such content."TikTok and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.Sunday's occupation of the government buildings had been
planned for at least two weeks by Bolsonaro's supporters in
groups on social media messaging platforms such as Telegram and
Twitter, yet there was no move by security forces to prevent
what one group called "the seizure of power by the people".Messages seen by Reuters throughout the week showed members
of such groups organising meeting points in several cities
around the country, from where chartered buses would leave for
Brasilia, with the intention to occupy public buildings.Social media companies were criticised for not doing enough
when supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump invaded
the U.S. Capitol two years ago.(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Martin
Coulter in London; Editing by Alexander Smith)