Facebook Reinstates ‘Storm Area 51’ Group

A little over a month ago, a social media group that was effectively looking to organise a ‘raid’ on Area 51 (presumably to say hello to some aliens) started going viral and last week had as many as 2 million people committed to ‘storming’ the gates with the ethos that ‘they can’t stop us all’.

This group has always been something of a joke with no actual real intention of conducting a mass “Naruto run” at the gates. Earlier this week, however, it was confirmed that Facebook had removed the group over an nondescript ‘breach of community guidelines’.

In a report via CNET, however, those of you planning to attend the event can rejoice as Facebook has reinstated the group!

Why Did Facebook Remove the Group?

In truth, it was something of a mystery as despite the shutdown, they never once gave a reason (despite numerous requests) as to why. It seems, however, that the reason might have been because they didn’t have one.

Put simply, Facebook has now said that the removal was an error and, as such, the group has been reinstated accordingly!

Will You Be Storming Area 51?

Personally, I suspected that Facebook may have taken a ‘moral decision’ to shut down the group. Although it was 100% a joke, I daresay that some people were (and probably still are) taking it more than a little seriously. As such, if people do try and storm the gates, it could have some rather unpleasant consequences. The social media site has, however, perhaps had to relent to the fact that, in terms of their rules, it didn’t strictly breach them.

With the event set to happen on September 20th, it’s going to be interesting to see how many of those 2 million actually turn up. The good news is, however, that the organiser of the group is attempting to arrange a party at a ‘nearby’ location. So, if nothing else, that might be fun!

What do you think? Has Facebook done the right thing here? – Let us know in the comments!