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This @CNET article muses about violent right-wing extremist groups flourishing on Facebook. Let's go into the top 5 reasons why, since folks who study this stuff have been throwing warning flares for literally YEARS. A ranty thread.
1: Facebook removed researcher access to most of its platform on April 4, 2018. After huge backlash, they announced a grant pgm, which still has not delivered our data - after 2 YEARS! No way to systematically study the platform at scale = no oversight. https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1166699106900881410?s=20
2: Facebook allows Pages (non-human "brands") to create Groups. Groups are one of the more toxic features on Facebook, and the hardest to monitor. I showed how easy it is to abuse this "feature" back in 2018: https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1043552161890734081?s=20
3: Court held FB not responsible for steering people toward more toxic Groups & Pages. I used its "suggested groups" feature to create a list of 2200 hate groups in 2017. Hmmmm, right before they banned researchers from collecting group & event rosters. 
https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1157384820672081926?s=20
https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1157384820672081926?s=20
4: Facebook reporting is really & truly broken. I have hundreds of examples of "not a violation" - including death threats - but here's my favorite, when they encouraged me to have a heart-to-heart with the Klan rather than just take the f'ing page down. https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1131618218974560257?s=20
5: When they finally DO remove a group, it's tardy, haphazard and amateurish. Their 2018 attempt to remove Proud Boys was full of holes, and -wow- just three days ago they're back in the news for courageously removing PB groups again. https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1062351797619249152?s=20
Now folks are freaking out over the Boogaloo & how these terror guys met on Facebook. Boogaloo guys also are on Discord, Reddit, & the chans, but they really took off on FB. Would gladly give you hard numbers for that but see point #1. https://twitter.com/MeganSquire0/status/1256609882687619073?s=20
Sometimes reporters call me about this or that scary new platform that's breeding hate. I have consistently told them that, yes, I am looking at the new stuff, but I believe Facebook is still the most common place for violent white power extremist groups to organize & plan.
And one more thing while we're at it. Facebook was the propaganda channel for the deadly Unite the Right event held in Charlottesville in 2017. They've never been held to account for that AND IT PISSES ME OFF. (Yes, Discord was used for planning but FB was the outreach vector.)
