Facebook ‘was used to glorify violence’ in elections

A REPORT says Facebook allowed groups to glorify violence during the 2020 US election and in the weeks leading to the deadly riots at the Capitol in January.

Avaaz, a non-profit advocacy group that says it seeks to protect democracies from misinformation, identified 267 pages and groups on Facebook that it says spread violence-glorifying material in the heat of the 2020 election to a combined following of 32 million users.

More than two-thirds of the groups and pages had names that aligned with several domestic extremist movements, the report found.

The first, boogaloo, promotes a second US civil war and the breakdown of modern society.

The second is the QAnon conspiracy, which claims that former president Donald Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state” and a sect of powerful Satan-worshipping paedophiles who dominate Hollywood, big business, the media and government.

The rest are various anti-government militias. All have been largely banned from Facebook since 2020. But despite what Avaaz called “clear violations” of Facebook’s policies, it found that 119 of these pages and groups were still active on the platform as of March 18 and had just under 27 million followers.

Facebook acknowledged that its policy enforcement “isn’t perfect” but said the report distorts its work against violent extremism and misinformation.

The company said in a statement that it has done more than any other internet company to stem the flow of harmful material, citing bans on “nearly 900 militarised social movements”.