Facebook recently removed an event page for a “raid” on Area 51 started to advertise a real-life festival capitalizing on the recent memes surrounding Area 51.
CNET reports that on August 3, Facebook removed an event page for a festival for violating Facebook’s community standards. The even page was advertised as a raid on the secret Area 51 base in the Nevada desert, long rumored to be the home of a number of government secrets and even extraterrestrial life.
A meme about raiding the base spread recently, resulting in mentions on television by Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert and a warning from the U.S. Air Force against raiding the facility. But now Mathew Roberts, the event creator, has seen the event page for his real-life festival removed.
“I never got any reason behind the event being removed,” Roberts told CNET. “I created a sister event which amassed about 15,000 people before being taken down for no reason.” Initially, Roberts created the event page as a joke, but has since planned a real-life festival in the Nevada desert on September 20 the same day as the initial fake raid was meant to take place.
“I think it’s pretty reckless of Facebook, especially because I’m trying to direct people away from storming the base,” Roberts said. “And now I’ve lost my entire audience.” Roberts believes that his festival will attract around 20,000 people.
The now-deleted event page description read: “We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let’s see them aliens.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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