Brian Fishman, Facebook’s director of counterterrorism and dangerous organizations police told AP: “We saw that these groups were planning to rally supporters and members to physically go to the protests and in some cases were preparing to go with weapons,” speaking of social media accounts related to the hate groups Proud Boys and the American Guard.
These two groups in particular were already banned from Facebook, but subsidiary groups with white supremacist members were still promoting their causes, hence the action from the company.
It comes as Facebook is under pressure to moderate the content posted by President Trump, something it has not yet done despite action from Twitter and Snapchat after Trump tweeted statements that were said to glorify violence.
Facebook said that approximately 190 accounts were taken down for violating rules prohibiting hate speech.
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
