Facebook Takes Down ‘Virgin Killer' Fan Pages

Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured more than a dozen more near UC Santa Barbara and then fan pages of the killer started showing up on Facebook.

One of the most offensive, "Elliot Rodger is an American hero" praised the 22-year-old spree killer, calling him "an American hero who made the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle of feminazi ideology," according to USA Today. Facebook started taking down the pages on Sunday but new ones replaced them. A copy of the "Elliot Rodger is an American hero" creeped back on Tuesday after being taken down.

Danielle Citron, a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Law and author of the book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace, told USA TODAY that although Facebook tries to get rid of hate speech, it can be inundated with content before it can be moderated.

Some users had asked Facebook to remove it and were initially told that the page didn't violate Facebook's terms of use, but a Facebook spokesman said that was a mistake and it was shut down.

Facebook's terms prohibit "hate speech," so the fan pages lauding a killer and hater of women likely fit that bill. Although Facebook initially dropped the ball, the social network quickly changed its views on the pages and shut them down.

 
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