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Facebook eliminated on the night of Thursday, November 5, a group created by supporters of the outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, which brought together more than 365,000 members in a single day, and in which false accusations were made for the US elections of the Tuesday violently. rhetoric and calls for demonstrations with the baseless claim that the Democrats are stealing the elections.
The “Stop the Steal” group, which called for “soldiers on the ground to protect the integrity of the elections,” was led by the Trump for Women for America First action group. This group organized demonstrations against the measures against the spread of Covid-19 and supported Trump during the motion of censure against him. Until removed later today, the Facebook page adds 1,000 new members every 10 seconds.
Trump and the official accounts of prominent and high-ranking Republicans are spreading vague and unsubstantiated allegations about the integrity of the US elections on social media, and the #StopTheSteal hashtag is gaining momentum.
“In keeping with the emergency measures we are taking during this heightened period, we have eliminated the ‘Stop Theft’ group,” a Facebook Inc. spokeswoman said in a statement. “The group was created to delegitimize the electoral process and we have seen alarming incitement to violence by some members of the group,” he said.
Twitter continues to target controversial and potentially misleading posts by the nation’s presiding mogul in his battle to retain his White House seat. Hours earlier, the company did the same in a tweet from the Republican president saying: “No votes received after Election Day will be counted.”
It is common for states to count votes for many days or even weeks after Election Day, for example, the votes of American soldiers serving abroad.
Before Facebook deleted the group “Stop the Steal”, which claims that “Democrats are conspiring to disenfranchise them and cancel votes in favor of Republicans,” the administrators of the page sent an email to the new members, referring them to another page to subscribe “in case social networks censor this group.”
Facebook groups are often set up as forums for users with common interests, but observer organizations and social media researchers argue that they can be used as hotbeds for partisan polarization and misinformation.
A post that received more than 1,700 likes in the Stop the Steal group read: “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”
Women for America First did not respond to Reuters for comment.
The demonstrations continued today after 200 Trump supporters, some armed with rifles and revolvers, gathered outside a polling station in Phoenix, Arizona, yesterday, following unfounded rumors that ballots were not being counted.
In Detroit, officials blocked about 30 people, mostly Republicans, from entering a polling station amid unsubstantiated allegations of vote rigging in Michigan.
Experts say that fraud is very rare in American elections.
Managers and coordinators for “Stop the Steal” include Tea Party veteran Amy Kremer and daughter Kaylee.
Amy Kremer tweeted: “The left is trying to steal elections and social media is complicit.” “This is outrageous!”
The Stop the Steal page also featured Jennifer Lawrence and Dustin Stockton, two members of We Build the Wall who were raided by federal agents in August as part of a fraud investigation.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
