As it faces a growing advertiser boycott, Facebook announced it's taking additional steps to curb dangerous content from its platform.
The company shared the news in a blog post Tuesday, confirming it had removed hundreds of accounts, groups, and pages that were linked to a violent faction of the anti-government movement known as "Boogaloo." Facebook said it has designated the decentralized group as a dangerous organization, and vowed to ban any account that represents, supports, or praises the movement.
"We know the initial elements of the boogaloo movement began as far back as 2012, and we have been closely following its developments since 2019," the company wrote. "We understand that the term has been adopted by a range of anti-government activists who generally believe civil conflict in the US is inevitable ... Officials have identified violent adherents to the movement as those responsible for several attacks over the past few months. These acts of real-world violence and our investigations into them are what led us to identify and designate this distinct network."
As of Tuesday, Facebook had removed 220 Facebook accounts, 95 Instagram accounts, 28 pages and 106 groups that are tied to the Boogaloo movement. The company also announced it has banned more than 400 additional groups and over 100 other pages that had violated its Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, Boogaloo is a loose-knit subculture that includes militia groups and white supremacists. Many of the so-called "Boogaloo Bois" have promoted violence against civilians, law enforcement, and government officials, and have been tied to a number of criminal acts over the last several months. Steven Carrillo, an Air Force sergeant who was recently charged with fatally shooting Dave Patrick Underwood, is an alleged Boogaloo associate.
"So long as violent movements operate in the physical world, they will seek to exploit digital platforms," the blog post continued. "We are stepping up our efforts against this network and know there is still more to do. As we’ve seen following other designations, we expect to see adversarial behavior from this network including people trying to return to using our platform and adopting new terminology. We are committed to reviewing accounts, Groups, and Pages, including ones currently on Facebook, against our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. We are grateful to researchers, investigators and reporters who identify the fault lines that help us focus on elements of the broad boogaloo movement that pose the greatest risk of real harm."
