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Facebook Shuts Down Pro-Trump ‘Stop The Steal’ Group

Social media strikes again.

With Tuesday’s national election dragging out into the weekend, there are plenty of Americans out there who are uncertain about the process that was utilized to get here.

This was a dizzying race for the candidates, particularly President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, and the final days of the contest are no less disorienting.  Social media and the infotainment industry are both seeing an uptick in claims of voter fraud, some legitimate, others, pure conspiracy fodder.  The sheer volume of allegations being made are tough to keep up with, and the rapid, realtime dissemination of information is making it all the more difficult.

On Facebook, concerned Trump supporters were beginning to organize their collective information with groups such as “Stop The Steal”.

The social media platform has now put the kibosh on that.

Supporters of President Donald Trump launched the “Stop the Steal” group this week to organize protests against the presidential election, which has yet to be called as of midday Friday. Some members called for violence, and many spread misinformation, including baseless claims that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election.

A Facebook spokesperson said the platform was also concerned because the group was organizing in-person events.

“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,” Facebook said in a statement to The Associated Press. “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 move comes during a busy week for social media companies, with Twitter flagging and throttling a number of President Trump’s missives about the election, citing their belief that the Commander in Chief’s allegations were “misinformation”.

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