Media Matters has found far-right figures, some with ties to anti-government extremists and at least one with involvement in acts of domestic terrorism, are using Facebook to promote protests against Washington state’s stay-at-home order -- despite Facebook’s recent announcement that it would remove “events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing.”

On April 20, Facebook confirmed to Seattle publication The Stranger that the platform had removed several events targeting Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D-WA) stay-at-home order after determining that they violated Facebook’s policy against “events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing.” Inslee’s office agreed that protests violated his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, which includes a ban on public and private gatherings and the closure of nonessential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Currently, the order is in effect until May 4, but the governor has said it will be extended.) The events were promoted by the Facebook page “Liberty, At All Hazards,” which was created in March. The page calls Inslee’s order “improper and illegal overreach of the government” and claims to “recognize no authority or legality in his order that places a ban on the gathering of individuals in groups of 50 or more, or any other restriction on the right of the people to peaceably assemble.”

Facebook previously announced on April 20 that it had removed similar events and posts in California, New Jersey, and Nebraska and was assessing events in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. A previous Media Matters investigation found a number of events, pages, groups, and posts promoting events in California, New Jersey, and Nebraska were still on Facebook on April 22 -- all in violation of Facebook's supposed policy. As of publication, only five events identified by Media Matters have been removed from the platform since April 22.

Now, Media Matters has found at least eight event pages on Facebook promoting protests in Washington -- including one event hosted by Liberty, At All Hazards, the same page which The Stranger initially brought to Facebook’s attention.