Report Finds Facebook Is Still Profiting Off Far-Right Extremism. In Other Words, it’s a Monday
A recent study has shown that despite Facebook’s claims that it’s cracking down on right-wing extremist groups, the company accepted ad buys from such groups as recently as October.
According to Buzzfeed News, a report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has shown that multiple Facebook pages and groups associated with far-right extremist groups are still thriving on the site. The TTP found that despite the ban, there are still at least 53 militia and far-right pages on the site. These militia groups have also run recruitment ads on the site, which Facebook takes a percentage of.
The TTP also found that the American Patriot Council, a far-right organization that advocated for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to face criminal prosecution because her stay-at-home orders prevented them from sitting in a Denny’s, ran recruitment ads earlier in October. The ads encouraged people to attend a rally on Oct. 24 in Michigan and New York.
Since we’re on the topic of Michigan, the report also comes on the heels of a thwarted attempt by a group of right-wing extremists to kidnap Whitmer. Much of the planning of that attempt was allegedly done on Facebook. After the arrest the company told Bloomberg it informed the FBI of the plot six months ago.
Quick question: if they knew six months ago that right-wing extremists were using their platform to plot an act of domestic terrorism, why did they wait until August to announce they were going to crackdown on such groups? The more information they reveal to try and look like “the good guys,” the worse the optics around it actually become.
The report also found that despite being banned by the platform in 2018, the Proud Boys, a group of “not-white supremacist” thugs, had been using Facebook’s fundraising tools to raise money for a rally in Portland last month. The company didn’t put a stop to these efforts until the Huffington Post called them out on it. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact Facebook gets a cut of any money raised using its platform, though.
Facebook is trying to say all the right things in the press, but if you pay attention for just three seconds you’ll quickly realize that’s all it is: talk.
Some of cheap levitra no prescription the common side effects are dizziness, headache, cold and sometimes a headache as well. Your orders can be cialis australia prices appalachianmagazine.com placed via phone calls. Here are some key reasons as to why most women experience sharp decline in their hormonal production and face symptoms related to FSD. cialis no prescription usa Simply put, the goals of psychotherapy are to: increase an individual’s sense of their own well-being improve mental health improve relationships There cialis generic pharmacy are many different techniques and methods to reduce their fear of anxiety and failure.
There isn’t much clarity on how extensive the bans are, what criteria they’re using to ban these platforms, and how they’re ensuring Facebook isn’t accelerating the radicalization process. The TTP found that whenever a Facebook user would express interest in far-right groups and militias, the site’s algorithm would recommend similar groups.
It shouldn’t be this hard to take down extremist groups on the site. Sure, the report states that many times a group will be taken down only to create a new group under a different name but, Facebook is a multi-billion dollar company. They can afford to create a team dedicated solely to ensuring extremist groups have zero presence on the site.
This isn’t just a matter of people being assholes online; this shit gets people hurt at best, killed at worst.
These groups see violence as a legitimate response to those whose politics don’t fit their view of America, and one of the key takeaways listed in the TTP report was that “members of ‘patriot’ and pro-Trump Facebook pages have posted explicit threats to kill public officials and racial justice protesters.”
Given how ineffective the ban has been, it’s unclear what, if any, effect it will have on the ability for militias and far right extremist groups to organize. If a plot to commit domestic terrorism and the deaths of two of protesters in Kenosha doesn’t spur Facebook to take more aggressive action against these groups, I honestly don’t know if anything will.
