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White nationalist groups are using Facebook to mobilize.
Tell Facebook to ban white nationalist hate groups and stop fueling white nationalism. |
A white nationalist just murdered two protesters demanding justice for Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
While demanding justice for Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who police recently shot in the back 7 times, paralyzing him from the waist down, an emboldened white nationalist militia member opened fire on protestors, shooting and killing two of them, and wounding a third.1 This white nationalist man was encouraged and emboldened to carry out such violence through a network of Facebook groups in which white nationalists openly discussed how they planned to violently harm protesters, with no intervention from Facebook until after the protesters were killed.2 Even worse, Facebook knew about the group and their calls to violence before the shooting happened and chose not to act.3
Sadly, this isn’t the first time white nationalist groups have mobilized on the platform to carry out real-world violence. Facebook promised to ban hate groups after it was used to organize 2018’s deadly “Unite the Right” riot. And just last week, they promised to ban far-right militias as threats increased, but white nationalists were still able to use Facebook to organize to harm protesters last night.
We cannot allow this to continue. Tell Facebook to stop fueling white nationalist hate groups.
Color Of Change has spent five years now trying to get Facebook to combat hate on the platform, and while we’ve won important changes to limit the impact of online hate, Facebook still refuses to fully reckon with the ways their company elevates white nationalists and other hate groups. Facebook, for example, automatically recommends hate group pages and content to those who use the platform, indoctrinating people in white nationalist ideologies. In some cases, Facebook will even automatically create pages for new hate groups.4
Facebook must IMMEDIATELY ban white nationalist hate groups from organizing on their platform.
Black people are facing undue suppression, harassment, and hate on Facebook. We can’t afford for Facebook to keep radicalizing white nationalists, who, through their interactions on Facebook, are driving real-world violence against protesters. White nationalist violence against us must end, and it’s Facebook’s job to step in and stop it.
Tell Facebook to stop fueling white nationalist organizing, once and for all.
Until justice is real,
—Jade, Arisha, Rashad, Johnny, Amanda, Marie, Evan, Imani, Eesha, Gabrielle, Samantha, Jennette, Ciera, Marcus, FolaSade, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
- “17-year-old charged with homicide after fatal shooting during Kenosha protests, authorities say,” The Washington Post, August 26, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/261616?t=9&akid=44821%2E4731121%2EuD_Xf4
- Lauren Hough, Twitter, August 25, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/261617?t=11&akid=44821%2E4731121%2EuD_Xf4
- "Facebook chose not to act on militia complaints before Kenosha shooting," The Verge, August 26, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/261626?t=13&akid=44821%2E4731121%2EuD_Xf4
- “White Supremacist Groups Are Thriving on Facebook,” Tech Transparency Project, May 21, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/261618?t=15&akid=44821%2E4731121%2EuD_Xf4
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.
