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1. NEW: Facebook announced today it is cracking down on three types of groups:
- QAnon
- Militias
- Anti-fascists
The company says the goal is to limit the reach of groups that have “demonstrated significant risks to public safety.”
A thread.
- QAnon
- Militias
- Anti-fascists
The company says the goal is to limit the reach of groups that have “demonstrated significant risks to public safety.”
A thread.
2. In its announcement, Facebook lumped together militia groups, which are generally right-wing, with anti-fascist groups, which come from the left. The company provided no insight about why the two groups were counted together.
3. The move, however, is reminiscent of the DOJ task force on “anti-government extremists” that initially blamed anti-fascists for violence at #BackLivesMatter protests nationwide. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ag-barr-creates-task-force-focused-countering-anti/story?id=71493646
4. As a reminder: Multiple news reports have shown that, despite claims from Trump and his administration, there is no real evidence that anti-fascists are to blame for violence at protests. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/22/who-caused-violence-protests-its-not-antifa/
5. Meanwhile, it was often right-wing agitators and members of the so-called “boogaloo” movement that engaged in violence, including allegedly murder, at or nearby the protests. https://www.informant.news/p/the-boogaloo-cases
6. For what it’s worth, Facebook already went after the boogaloo movement in late June. https://www.informant.news/p/facebook-versus-the-boogaloo
7. Today’s Facebook crackdown is happening in multiple ways. Pages and ads are being removed in some cases. Accounts will be limited in their reach in other cases.
8. For QAnon, Facebook says it has removed 790 groups, 100 pages, and 1,500 ads.
For militias and anti-fascists, the company says it removed 980 groups, 520 pages, and 160 ads.
For militias and anti-fascists, the company says it removed 980 groups, 520 pages, and 160 ads.
9. Here is Facebook's full announcement. https://about.fb.com/news/2020/08/addressing-movements-and-organizations-tied-to-violence/
10. I’ll have more on Facebook’s crackdown in tomorrow’s issue of The Informant, my publication that covers hate and extremism in America.
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UPDATE: Facebook gave me a few examples of the anti-fascist pages it took down as part of today's purge.
The company removed the pages for:
- @IGD_News
- @crimethinc
- @PNWYLF
The company removed the pages for:
- @IGD_News
- @crimethinc
- @PNWYLF
Facebook also told me it removed the pages of some prominent militia organizations, including:
- @Oathkeepers
- New Mexico Civil Guard
- 3% Security Force
- @Oathkeepers
- New Mexico Civil Guard
- 3% Security Force
