Facebook Temporarily Removed The Storm Area 51 Event

After removing an event that called on people to storm Area 51, Facebook reversed course and republished it a few days later. Over two million people had RSVP'd to event, titled "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," when it was removed on August 3. The event, scheduled for September 20, told people to gather at the Area 51 Alien Center where they would plan their attack on the highly classified military base that sits in the middle of the Nevada desert.

"We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry," the event description reads. "If we Naruto Run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let's see them aliens."

Matty Roberts, who created the event as a joke, told CNET that Facebook explained they removed the event because it "went against" Facebook's "Community Standards." Roberts called Facebook's decision "reckless" because he was using the page to advise people against storming the base.

"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."

When Roberts first created the event, he never expected it would turn into a global sensation. The event made news all over the world, and the United States military was forced to issue a warning to people who were actually thinking about trying to storm the base.

It also spawned the Area 51 meme which flooded social media for weeks after the event first went viral.

After removing the event on August 3, Facebook republished it a few days later with no explanation given as to why it was back.

Roberts says he still has plans for September 20. He wants to host an Area 51 festival in Nevada that does not involve trying to break into a military base.

"I want to make it like a festival of sorts. I want to have a bunch of different musical artists, everybody from the EDM world and then maybe some indie rock, maybe some smaller guys that are up and coming. I've had a lot of people DM'ing the page saying their bands want to play there, which would be super cool," Roberts told WWNYTV.

It is unclear if he will be able to host a festival at the Area 51 Alien Center, which sits about 75 miles from the classified base. The visitors center is located in a remote area of the desert and does not have the resources or infrastructure to support a large number of visitors.

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