Facebook Removes 'Stop the Steal 2020' Group - Election Misinformation

Facebook removed a group that had grown to over 300,000 members due to the sharing of inaccurate information and the coordination of activities based on unsubstantiated claims regarding the 2020 elections.

The group, known as “Stop the Steal 2020,” was arranging demonstrations focused on election officials who were currently tallying votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.

“Consistent with the extraordinary steps we are implementing during this time of increased concern, we have removed the Group ‘Stop the Steal,’ as it was focused on organizing real-world events,” a Facebook representative stated in a communication sent to TechCrunch. “The group’s central theme involved undermining confidence in the election process, and we observed concerning expressions of potential violence from certain group members.”

BuzzFeed’s Ryan Mac initially reported on Facebook’s action, sharing the information in a tweet.

Demonstrations by individuals advocating both for and against continuing the vote count are occurring nationwide as Republican Party officials and campaign staff attempt to disrupt the counting of mail-in and absentee ballots from the 2020 election, while Democratic supporters are organizing opposing demonstrations.

Although the organizers may be mobilizing supporters of President Trump throughout the country, their specific messages vary depending on the location.

In Phoenix, demonstrators are requesting that all ballots be counted, as former Vice President Joe Biden maintains a narrow advantage in Arizona.

Conversely, the message differs in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, where President Donald Trump is attempting to maintain his current, slight leads or to overturn results that have placed him behind in the polls. For example, in Detroit, supporters of Trump displayed signs reading “stop the steal” and “stop the cheat,” according to news coverage.

Numerous conservative voices on Twitter have had their posts modified by the platform to indicate they were disseminating election-related misinformation.

Facebook has also applied “labels” to election-related posts that violate its policies, although these labels primarily direct users to relevant, factual information rather than providing explicit warnings about false statements.

Responding directly to President Trump’s early declaration of victory, Facebook also introduced prominent messages on both Facebook and Instagram to remind users that vote counting was still in progress.

Facebook has also implemented revisions to its policies concerning groups that organize real-world events, following the 2016 election disinformation campaign conducted by Russian operatives and the recent shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where two individuals were killed after a local, self-proclaimed militia group responded to protests regarding the shooting of Kenosha resident Jacob Blake.