Science & Technology

Facebook shuts network of pages linked to Steve Bannon

San Francisco, US, Nov 9 (efe-epa).- Facebook reported Monday that it has closed a network of pages linked to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for spreading false information about voter fraud and trying to delegitimize the United States’ presidential election result.

“We’ve removed several clusters of activity for using inauthentic behavior tactics to artificially boost how many people saw their content,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement.

“That includes a Group that was originally named ‘Stop the Steal’ which later became ‘Gay Communists for Socialism’ and misled people about its purpose using deceptive tactics.”

The shut-down pages included those of Brian Kolfage, Conservative Values, We Build the Wall Inc, Citizens of the American Republic, American Joe and Trump at War, as well as Gay Communists for Socialism.

In total, these pages had amassed more than 2.45 million followers and defended President Donald Trump’s claim that voter fraud took place in the presidential election last Tuesday – despite providing no evidence of this – and that therefore he is the legitimate winner.

Last week Twitter permanently suspended Bannon’s account after he suggested in a video, also posted to Facebook and Google’s YouTube, that COVID-19 advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded.

Two days after election day, Facebook closed the group named ‘Stop the Steal,’ made up of Trump supporters who promoted his claims, and amid fears around the spread of misinformation and threats of violence.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” said Facebook in a statement at that time.

“The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

One of the promoters of ‘Stop the Steal,’ conservative pro-Trump activist Amy Kremer, took to Twitter to denounce Facebook’s decision and claim that “the left is trying to steal an election and Social media is complicit,” calling it “outrageous.” EFE-EPA

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