Dear John,

New reporting has uncovered a shadowy network of dozens of pro-Trump Facebook pages run by for-profit corporations that are making millions by spreading vile hate and disinformation online.

They're called Facebook “MAGA mills,” and we need to pay attention.

Here’s what we know now: At least 70 far-right pages run by a small group of for-profit companies appear to have cracked Facebook’s algorithms and built an audience of at least 38 million people and gotten more than 100 million engagements in the last year. They’ve done it with only a small advertising budget, using highly inflammatory and racially charged posts full of conspiracy theories and disinformation.

Experts in digital political advertising are warning that these companies stand to play a major role in the 2024 presidential election — and with Donald Trump now officially back and posting on Facebook, that threat is even greater.

Inequality Media Civic Action is one of the very, very few progressive organizations with the size, tools, and expertise to go toe-to-toe with the Facebook MAGA mills and effectively counter their lies on the very platforms where they are spreading.

Will you donate to Inequality Media Civic Action and help fight back against far-right disinformation and the MAGA mills threatening our democracy?

Facebook MAGA mills aren’t new. In fact, Slate magazine reported back in 2018 about this highly profitable “cottage industry” of pro-Trump fan pages.

However, in recent years, these MAGA mills have exploded in size and profitability. One of these companies, MakingWeb LLC, recently grew its revenue by 1,516% in one year alone and was named on Inc. Magazine's 500 fastest-growing companies list, according to the digital advertising newsletter FWIW.

These Facebook MAGA mills have been able to grow so fast by pushing the envelope on the most incendiary rhetoric and disinformation imaginable — the exact kind of content that gets rewarded and boosted by Facebook’s algorithms.

Pages with names like “Donald Trump Is My Wingman,” “Operation Red Wall,,” and “Impeach Joe Biden” post hundreds of stories a day often with word-for-word identical content and messages like “Do you think Joe Biden destroyed the economy on purpose? Comment YES if you agree!”

Facebook’s terms of use technically ban this kind of coordinated, inauthentic behavior. But with Mark Zuckerberg laying off tens of thousands of people and Meta’s stock price falling fast, Facebook is not likely to shut down pages that are this profitable to the company.

Ideally, Facebook would be regulated or broken up so that this kind of disinformation could be stopped. But until this happens, we need to be on these platforms fighting back, using the best cutting edge tactics to boost engagement and virality minus the lies and conspiracy theories.

Inequality Media Civic Action has spent years mastering the best techniques for engaging and persuading people online using eye-catching graphics, sharable explainers, and viral videos. But as a people-powered nonprofit we rely on donations from you, our supporters.

Will you donate to Inequality Media Civic Action and help educate the public and fight back against Facebook’s far-right MAGA mills?

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action