In the wake of last week’s mortal uprising on Capitol Hill, Senator Mark Warner is asking Facebook and other social media giants to preserve “digital evidence” from the chaotic scenes that surrounded the building.
“After Wednesday’s insurrectionary attack on our nation’s Capitol, I am asking telecommunications and social media companies to preserve digital evidence of the Capitol rebellion,” Virginia Democrat tweeted on Saturday.
In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Warner states that “the United States Capitol is now a crime scene”.
CAPITOL PROTESTTS: FBI MANHUNT BY RIOT SUSPECTS GOES HIGH-TECH
“If you have not already done so, I request that Facebook work to immediately preserve any and all posts, communications, videos and other media, metadata, cloud backups and subscriber information, whether currently on your platform or in any backup or archived state , via Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which may be associated with Wednesday’s insurrectionary attack on the United States Capitol, “wrote Warner, a Democrat from Virginia.
“We are continuing our ongoing and proactive work with law enforcement and we have been working to provide quick responses to valid legal requests,” a Facebook spokesman told Fox News, by email on Sunday. “We are removing content, deactivating accounts and working with law enforcement to protect us from direct threats to public security.”
Images of pro-Trump protesters storming the Capitol building sent shockwaves around the world. The violence left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and sparked a high-tech manhunt by the FBI for suspects involved in the riot.
FACEBOOK BLOCKS TRUMP INDEFINITELY AFTER THE CAPITOL MOTIMO RESPONSE
Facebook is also in the spotlight for its decision to indefinitely block President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after his response to the Capitol riot.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Zuckerberg wrote that “the shocking events of the past 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and legal transition from power to his elected successor, Joe Biden. “
“We believe that the risks of allowing the president to continue using our service during this period are simply too great,” he added. “Therefore, we are extending the blocking that we put on your Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is completed.”
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Stephanie Pagones and Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this article.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers