Facebook has banned the pro-Trump Stop the Steal page started by Women for America First on Wednesday to organize support for an honest count of legal votes in the presidential election.
Mother Jones’ Ali Breland reported a statement by Facebook, “NEW: Facebook spokesperson on shutdown of “Stop The Steal” group: “In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events. The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”
facebook confirms that it took down the "stop the steal group" because it was "organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group." pic.twitter.com/u13tWE4ik6
— Ali Breland (@alibreland) November 5, 2020
Leader Amy Kremer posted about the suspension on Twitter saying, “@Facebook just shut down the @america1stwomen #StoptheSteal group The group wasn’t even 24 hours old and had over 350K members. The left is trying to steal an election and Social media is complicit. This is outrageous!”
Wow.@Facebook just shut down the @america1stwomen #StoptheSteal group
The group wasn’t even 24 hours old and had over 350K members.
The left is trying to steal an election and Social media is complicit.
This is outrageous! pic.twitter.com/S44HisXvpM
— Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) November 5, 2020
The Facebook ban of Stop the Steal came after liberals campaigned for the ban:
Rolling Stone accused Facebook of encouraging violence by allowing Stop the Steal: “Facebook is, once again, doing an absolutely atrocious job at curtailing election-related disinformation and violent rhetoric. Its history of being reactive rather than proactive may very well result in the platform having blood on its hands.”
Facebook is, once again, doing an absolutely atrocious job at curtailing election-related disinformation and violent rhetoric. Its history of being reactive rather than proactive may very well result in the platform having blood on its hands. https://t.co/1CapFBFY7A
— Ej Dickson (@ejdickson) November 5, 2020
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, “Stop the Steal is a blatant attempt to organise interference in vote counts across the US. It is operated by individuals closely linked to Trump himself. If @Facebook is serious about combatting attempts to undermine the election, it must be shut down.”
Stop the Steal is a blatant attempt to organise interference in vote counts across the US.
It is operated by individuals closely linked to Trump himself.
If @Facebook is serious about combatting attempts to undermine the election, it must be shut down. pic.twitter.com/TOJtIc8sM7
— Center for Countering Digital Hate (@CCDHate) November 5, 2020
