META Meta Platforms Inc

By Jeff Horwitz and Sam Schechner 

Facebook Inc. took down a fast-growing group on its platform called "Stop the Steal" that was organizing protests of vote counts around the country, in one of the social-media giant's most aggressive moves yet to police online activity over the election results.

The group had grown to more than 361,000 members within 24 hours and was devoted to protesting the administration of the election, which the organizers allege has been marred by widespread voter fraud. While President Trump has repeatedly made the same claim, news organizations and fact-checking groups have found no support for it to date. The Trump administration's Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency tweeted earlier Thursday about the robust safeguards in place to ensure a fair and accurate election.

Facebook's decision to take down the group was "in line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension," according to a spokesman who said that "Stop the Steal" was "creating real-world events."

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

A pro-Trump organization called "Women for America First" had created and operated the Facebook group, according to its home page before it was deactivated.

"Facebook just silenced over 365,000 American voices," wrote Cindy Pfingston Chafian, one of the group's administrators, in a post on Twitter. "We were organizing people to go to the states to oversee election counting and for rallies and they silenced us!!"

Ms. Chafian and two other people listed as the top administrators or moderators of the group didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Facebook's decision to remove the group is likely to feed into Republicans' long-running claims that the company censors conservative speech. Minutes after the takedown, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a post responding to the move that read in part, "Is this how social media treated Black Lives Matter protesters?"

Facebook groups have been used this week to organize tense real-world protests at vote counting facilities, with angry crowds of Trump supporters in Detroit and Phoenix questioning the integrity of the count and election officials beefing up security.

Officials of both parties including state and federal election officials have sought to assure the public that ballot counting is a critical part of the democratic process and is unfolding legitimately, after issuing warnings for months that tallying a surge of mail-in votes could take time. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits this week disputing the process, in some cases seeking to halt vote counts under way.

Facebook had previously said it would give people involved in administering the election heightened protections on its platform, akin to those provided to minority groups targeted by hate speech.

The company earlier this week took down a private group with more than 79,000 members called "Stand Up Michigan to Unlock Michigan" -- organized to oppose pandemic-related lockdown measures -- that more recently encouraged people to protest the ballot counting process in Detroit, according to screenshots of posts in the group seen by The Wall Street Journal. The group's involvement in organizing the protest was earlier reported by NBC News.

That group was removed for similar reasons as "Stop the Steal." A Facebook spokesman cited "potential offline harm" and said the company was in contact with local authorities in Detroit.

Some "Stop the Steal" members seemed aware the group might be targeted for enforcement. In one message, posted less than an hour before the group was shut down, a member urged others to join a group chat on the messaging app Telegram out of fear of a Facebook crackdown. In the minutes before the group was removed, it was adding new members at a rate of more than 25,000 people an hour.

Shutting down "Stop the Steal" was heavily discussed inside Facebook before its action Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, one of whom said those internal debates were elevated to the highest levels of the company.

The Democratic National Committee's team that monitors disinformation also flagged the Facebook group to the social-media giant this week, a person familiar with the matter said. The team highlighted the group's posts that contained misinformation and questioned why it remained up, the person said.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said that concerns around election-related violence justify a tighter rein on speech than the company prefers but that he imposes restrictions reluctantly.

"In times of social turmoil, our impulse is often to pull back on free expression," Mr. Zuckerberg said in a speech last year. "I believe in giving people a voice because, at the end of the day, I believe in people."

A Twitter spokesman said the company has also been monitoring the hashtag #StopTheSteal and related tweets on its platform since Tuesday morning. Twitter has taken action on some messages that violate its rules against interfering in elections, he said.

When Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and supporter of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory who was elected this week to the U.S. House, tweeted Wednesday morning, "We are going to STOP THE STEAL!" with the hashtag #STOPTHESTEAL, Twitter added a label saying, "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading."

Facebook employees have long voiced concerns about the platform's tools and features, including Facebook groups, being used to spark violence. Earlier this year, some violent clashes in Kenosha, Wis., were organized over Facebook.

Facebook executives have put in reserve "break-glass" measures to slow down discussion on the platform, in case of real-world violence around the election, the Journal previously reported. The company initially developed those emergency measures for what it calls "at-risk" countries like Myanmar and would deploy them only under dire circumstances, people familiar with the matter said previously.

The "Stop the Steal" group was used at least in part to organize protests against the handling of vote counting in various parts of the country. The group used Facebook's events function to list details of at least 14 demonstrations, including one for downtown Raleigh, N.C., on Friday. Many of the events used the word "peaceful" in their descriptions.

One, called "Stop The Steal, Harrisburg, PA" occurred shortly before the group was removed. According to pictures and live videos posted to Twitter and Facebook, the protest consisted of a small crowd -- including some children -- gathered in front of the Pennsylvania state house making speeches and holding "Stop the Steal" signs.

--Deepa Seetharaman, Emily Glazer and Georgia Wells contributed to this article.

Write to Jeff Horwitz at Jeff.Horwitz@wsj.com and Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 05, 2020 16:09 ET (21:09 GMT)

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