Facebook Inc. said today that it will take down posts that promote protests the violate social distancing rules that have been imposed in various states.

This week there have been COVID-19 anti-quarantine rallies all over the U.S., with some of those rallies talking about “revolution” in the country. Health experts have advised people not to protest in numbers, stating that thousands of people meeting could result in an increase of infections.

Reports state that more protests have been planned, with people using social media to drum up discontent. Facebook has so far taken down posts supporting upcoming protests that have been planned in the states of California, Nebraska and New Jersey.

Other protests have been held under what has been called “Operation Gridlock,” rallies that should have kept people in their cars. Hundreds of people in various states protested in groups, not in their cars, stating that too many people were losing their incomes and livelihoods.

“Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told NBC. “For this same reason, events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook.”

During the health crisis Facebook has taken a hard line against misinformation relating to the virus surfacing on its platform. It’s not certain how many of the protesters believe in the gravity of the crisis, or whether they just want to be relieved of their isolation.

In an interview with ABC, Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said support for the protests is deemed harmful misinformation, seeing as protests are not in line with social distancing.

“At the same time, it’s important that people can debate policies so there’s a line on this, you know, more than normal political discourse,” said Zuckerberg. “I think a lot of the stuff that people are saying that is false around a health emergency like this can be classified as harmful misinformation.”

Today, Facebook also announced that it’s launching a COVID-19 symptom map, a project that will help authorities to forecast future hospital admissions.

Photo: Lorie Shaull/Flickr