Facebook bans groups loosely tied to boogaloo
Facebook has banned an extremist antigovernment network loosely associated with the broader “boogaloo” movement, a slang term supporters use to refer to a second Civil War or a collapse of civilization.
But the Menlo Park company didn’t try to name the group, underscoring the difficulty of grappling with an amorphous network linked to a string of domestic terror plots that appears to obfuscate its existence. Among other complications, its internetsavvy members tend to keep their distance from one another, frequently change their symbols and catch phrases and mask their intentions with sarcasm.
The move by Facebook designates this group as a dangerous organization similar to the Islamic State group and white supremacists, both of which are already banned from
its service. The social network is not banning all references to “boogaloo“and said it is only removing groups, accounts and pages when they have a “clear connection to violence or a credible threat to public safety.“
The loose movement is named after “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” a 1984 sequel to a movie about breakdancing. “Boogaloo” supporters have shown up at protests over COVID19 lockdown orders, carrying rifles and wearing tactical gear over Hawaiian shirts — themselves a reference to “big luau,” a homophone for “boogaloo” sometimes favored by group members. Facebook said the movement dates to 2012 and that it has been tracking it closely since last year.
Followers of the boogaloo movement seek to exploit public unrest to incite a race war that will bring about a new government. Its adherents are usually staunch proponents of gun rights, and some use Nazi iconography and its extremist symbols, according to organizations that track hate groups.
Steven Carrillo, an Air Force sergeant with ties to the boogaloo movement, is charged with fatally shooting a federal security officer and wounding his partner outside a U.S. courthouse in Oakland. He is also charged with the ambush killing of a Santa Cruz County Sheriff ’s deputy.
According to the criminal complaint, Carrillo posted in a Facebook group, “It’s on our coast now, this needs to be nationwide. It’s a great opportunity to target the specialty soup bois. Keep that energy going.”
The statement was followed by two fire emojis and a link to a YouTube video showing a large crowd attacking two California Highway Patrol vehicles. According to the FBI “soup bois” may be a term that followers of the boogaloo movement used to refer to federal law enforcement agents.
In June, the FBI arrested three men in Nevada who called themselves members of the boogaloo movement, accusing them of trying to incite violence at an antipolice protest in Las Vegas. In May, police officers in Denver seized three assault rifles, magazines, several bulletproof vests and other military equipment from the car trunk of a selfidentified boogaloo follower who was headed to a Black Lives Matter protest — and had previously livestreamed his support for armed confrontations with the police.
While the boogaloo term has been embraced by white supremacist groups and other farright extremists, many supporters insist they aren’t racist or truly advocating for violence.
Violent and extremist groups are increasingly turning to encrypted communications networks and fringe social media sites with no content moderation to congregate, which makes them more difficult to track.
As part of Tuesday’s announcement, Facebook said it has removed 220 Facebook accounts, 95 Instagram accounts, 28 Pages and 106 groups that that comprise the violent Boogalooaffiliated network. It also took down 400 other groups and 100 pages that hosted similar content as the violent network but were maintained by accounts outside of it.
The company said it has so far found no evidence of foreign actors amplifying boogaloorelated material.
Social media companies are facing a reckoning over hate speech on their sites.
Reddit, a San Francisco online comment forum that is one of the world’s most popular websites, banned a forum that supported President Trump this week as part of a crackdown on hate speech.
San Francisco livestreaming site Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, also temporarily suspended Trump’s campaign account for violating its hateful conduct rules.
San Bruno’s YouTube, meanwhile, banned several prominent white nationalist figures from its service, including Stefan Molyneux, David Duke and Richard Spencer.
Civil rights groups have called on large advertisers to stop Facebook ad campaigns during July, saying the social network isn’t doing enough to curtail racist and violent content on its network and several major advertisers have signed on to the boycott.