Numerous buildings on Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, California were evacuated Tuesday evening after local police were forwarded a tip about a bomb threat. Police searched the area and determined there were no explosives that could be found.
Menlo Park PD tweeted overnight:
At 4:32 PM, Menlo Park Police communications center received a call from the New York Police Department Crime Stoppers Unit that they received an anonymous tip of a bomb threat at a Facebook facility located at 200 Jefferson Dr. in Menlo Park.
Facebook management, as a precaution, requested buildings in the surrounding area be evacuated. Menlo Park Police Department assisted in the evacuation, secured a perimeter around the building, and traffic was temporarily diverted around the area. The San Mateo County bomb unit was dispatched with explosive detection dogs that conducted a sweep of the building and found no suspicious packages or devices. The building is all clear and secure.
“We take the safety and security of our people at Facebook extremely seriously and are glad that everyone is safe,” a spokesperson said in a statement released to CNN. “We are working closely with local authorities to investigate this threat and further monitor the situation.”
A number of news organisations and social media companies have received threats over the past two years, as President Donald Trump regularly calls the press the “enemy of the people” and Republican members of Congress claim that social media is biased against conservatives. Yesterday Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee, where numerous congressmen accused the tech giant of actively manipulating search results to negatively impact conservative voices.
A 38-year-old woman named Nasim Najafi Aghdam became a folk hero for the far right after perpetrating a shooting at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, though she injured just four people and she was the only fatality when she turned the gun on herself.
The threats, both real and bluffs, are likely to continue as the political climate becomes even more heated. President Trump doesn’t show any signs of letting up and he even seems to be making his rhetoric more explicit and violent. When asked yesterday if he was worried about the prospect of getting impeached, President Trump insisted that he wasn’t concerned.
“I’m not concerned, no,” Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview. “I think that the people would revolt if that happened.”
[Menlo Park PD via The Verge]