Facebook unverified page calling for police officers’ ‘heads on sticks’

FACEBOOK has been slammed for taking days to remove a post calling for police beheadings on a page it had marked as “verified”.

FACEBOOK has reversed its endorsement of a page encouraging violence against police after a news.com.au investigation exposed beheading threats published on the verified page.

The Australians Filming Police page no longer bears a grey tick, which indicated Facebook “has confirmed this page is an authentic page for a business or organisation”.

The social media giant has refused to explain why the page, which frequently posts threats to police and features still-live posts calling for officers’ “heads on sticks”, had been given verification.

A now-removed post calling for a crowd-funding campaign to “offer rewards for police officers’ heads on sticks”, which was published on Saturday morning, remained live for three full days before being taken down for violating Facebook’s terms.

The post was removed from the page, and the page unverified more than 24 hours later. Picture: Facebook

Users who reported the post to Facebook while it was live said they received messages in response saying it didn’t “go against one of our specific community standards”.

The social media giant deleted the post on Tuesday morning after Australian Federal Police commenced an investigation into the content.

It was another 24 hours before the page’s verification tick was removed.

An AFP spokesman told news.com.au the agency was aware of the post and was considering its content.

Though the post from this week has been removed, content encouraging attacks on police remains on the page.

A post published last month says people “need to prepare to use lethal force when defending themselves from police”.

“They are a public danger not public servants anymore. Police like this should be made example of and have their heads placed on sticks to ward off other officers from being the same,” the shocking post says.

Another calls for followers to “sharpen your guillotines”, and several including the phrase “f**k the police”, among other offensive phrases, remain live.

Posts encouraging violence towards police remain on the page. Picture: Facebook

The police minister and police association have expressed shock at the page and its content. Picture: Facebook

Facebook has not responded to questions from news.com.au regarding its decision to grant and then remove the page’s verified tick and whether its verification process would be reviewed.

NSW Police Minister Troy Grant said removing the post was “not good enough”.

“It’s a terrible indictment on our community that many people are engaging in that sort of mentality,” he told 2GB radio.

“Our police do an amazing job. They put their lives on the line and to be treated with this level of disrespect is demoralising to be quite frank.”

Mr Grant said social media websites needed to be pushed to take action on what is posted.

“We try and push these social media networks to be more responsible,” he said.

“This apparently did not breach their guidelines under the way they interpret it. How they came to that conclusion has got me absolutely stumped.”