AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: Austin and Travis County leaders announced on March 6 that SXSW has been canceled.
Facebook won't be participating in this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) festival amid concerns over the coronavirus.
A spokesperson on Monday said the company and its employees will not be participating this year. The company had a number of employees scheduled to be guest speakers on SXSW panels and a Facebook house and activation were planned in East Austin.
"Due to concerns related to coronavirus, our company and employees will not be participating in SXSW this year," the spokesperson said.
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According to our partners at the Austin American-Statesman, Facebook had already canceled two of its own conferences as a precaution and has implemented travel restrictions.
Facebook added it is not making any changes to its work from home guidance at this time, but they are continuing to monitor the situation.
"If an employee does have a heightened health concern and wants to work from home, they are encouraged to do so," Facebook said.
Also on Monday, Twitter announced a ban on all nonessential travel for employees and said that CEO Jack Dorsey would no longer be a featured speaker at SXSW.
Despite the concerns over coronavirus and a petition to cancel the festival, SXSW organizers said the event is continuing as planned and that they expect a good crowd this year.
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