Eventbrite removes stay-at-home protest posted to website, says it promotes ‘harmful behavior’

COVID-19 protests across the United States

U.S. citizens and residents have been voicing their displeasure and disagreement with coronavirus policies and restrictions.

LOS ANGELES - Just as Facebook had removed ads for COVID-19 protests, Eventbrite, too, removed an anti stay-at-home protest event scheduled for May in Canada in an attempt to encourage social distancing.

According to a statement provided to TechCrunch, as well as a similar statement provided to CNET, Eventbrite removed the event from its website, citing its lack of adherence to social distancing guidelines set in place to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

But event removal is not a new practice for Eventbrite, according the statement:

“We ticket millions of events a year and strive to ensure our community has a safe and positive experience using Eventbrite. Our Community Guidelines have always prohibited events that promote or contain harmful and/or illegal behavior, and events in locations that violate the current government-issued social distancing and shelter in place mandates during this global pandemic are deemed as such. Our community plays an essential role in reporting any concerning listings or content and when we become aware of content on our platform that’s in violation of our Community Guidelines, we investigate and take appropriate action. The COVID-19 global pandemic is a very dynamic situation, and any action we take will vary based on the local guidelines.”

Protests against the stay-at-home orders in place across the U.S. as well as around the world have been cropping up as small businesses were forced to shut down, countless jobs were lost and thousands were furloughed.

Despite the alarmingly high contagiousness of the novel coronavirus, hundreds of people in multiple states have gathered publicly against state and city guidelines that implore citizens to practice social distancing to stave off more deaths.