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“Time to start shooting people.” “We need a civil war.”
In connection with this year’s presidential elections, calls for weapons and violence have appeared by the thousands on Facebook.
Now a group has been shut down after members called for violence when Donald Trump loses the election.
The vote count is still ongoing in the United States. Yesterday, various media companies announced Democrat Joe Biden as the new president of the United States.
Some of President Trump’s supporters are now urging others to resort to violence if that is the case. The other day, Facebook closed the “Stop the Steal” group. The name refers to the Democrats trying to steal the elections, as Donald Trump now claims.
Photo: Gene J. Puskar / TT
Protester i Pittsburgh.
Photo: Rebecca Blackwell / TT
Trump supporters sit with a sign that reads “Stop Theft.”
“Try to undermine the choice”
The reason the group was shut down, according to Facebook, is that it has seen “disturbing calls for violence from certain members” and that the group has tried to undermine the US electoral process, writes Reuters.
And this kind of rhetoric has not been unusual for this year’s election. A survey of US-based Facebook groups conducted by the research company CounterAction on behalf of Reuters shows that:
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Phrases like We need a civil war, load weapons or similar in connection with the election occurred 41,000 times during a two-month period
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phrases like Shoot them or Kill them all used at least 7,345 times
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Hang it up appeared 8132 times
One comment read: Time to start shooting, people.
Photo: Gene J. Puskar / TT
Pittsburgh Police.
Photo: EVAN VUCCI / TT
Donald Trump.
14,200 groups eliminated
In August, Facebook changed its policy to avoid “militarized social movements.” Since then, the company has closed 14,200 groups with reference to the new policy.
Already in advance, many have warned of the risk of violence after the elections. The constant election results, but also accusations of electoral fraud from the Trump campaign have reinforced that fear.
A few days ago, supporters from both sides gathered for demonstrations outside the polling station in Philadelphia, in the key state of Pennsylvania. However, without violence. On Friday, two men were arrested in front of the same polling station armed with semi-automatic weapons and ammunition.
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