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31st Mar 2018

Facebook apologises to family of Elisha Gault for removing tribute to their daughter

Jade Hayden

On 29 March, Grainne Gault posted that the details had been “removed.”

The body of the Tipperary teenager, Elisha Gault was discovered on Sunday, 25 March along the edge of the River Suir in Co. Waterford.

She had been missing for eight days.

Following the discovery of her daughter’s remains, Elisha’s mother Grainne took to Facebook to thank the community for their help in the search.

She also shared a tribute to her daughter and the details of the 14-year-old’s funeral, which included an address.

On Thursday, Grainne posted that the details had been “removed.”

“Unfortunately the funeral arrangements for Elisha Gault have been removed, as it appears my post and my tribute was against community standards,” she wrote.

Facebook has since apologised for the removal, saying that a post such as this would usually violate the site’s rules as it contained personal information such as an address.

A spokesman told The Irish Daily Mail that the post has been restored and that they are “sorry if this has caused distress to Elisha’s family during this difficult time.”

They said:

“The post in question would normally violate our community standards because it includes personally identifiable information about that person and we care deeply about upholding our privacy commitments.

“However in this case we recognise that Elisha’s name and address is being shared to give people the opportunity to pay their respects.”

The post has since been restored to Grainne’s Facebook page.

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