Two Connecticut senators and a state representative sent a letter to Facebook Monday asking them to shut down over 100 “tribute” sites for the Newtown massacre, that saw 27 school children and teachers shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary school.
The Hill reported that the letter asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “remove pages that have been used to harass or exploit the families of Newtown victims.”
The letter listed more than 100 pages that “they say could be used to harass victims’ families or profit financially from the tragedy.”
It was signed by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Chris Murphy, and Representative Elizabeth Esty, all Democrats.
The letter goes on to say:
“Many (of the pages) give the appearance they were created by loved ones in the names of the victims. Unfortunately, many of these pages have become vehicles for harassment, intimidation and possibly financial fraud… Pages providing platforms for people to violate the privacy of families as they grieve, or seek financial gain through soliciting donations under false pretenses, or generating Facebook ‘likes’ for marketing purposes, should not be given quarter in the Facebook community.”
The letter was inspired in part by requests by family members to Facebook, to which the company has not allegedly not responded.
The lawmakers maintain that the fraudulent nature of these pages is in violation of Facebook’s terms of service, which forbid users from creating pages for others and from using false information to register an account.
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