Facebook Shuts Down Massive ‘Stop the Steal’ Group
The pro-Trump group attracted 300,000 members in just two days
As of Thursday morning, a massive Facebook group called “Stop the Steal” was raising funds to challenge election results across the country, falsely claiming that Democrats were stealing the election in states where President Trump has fallen behind.
On Thursday afternoon, Facebook banned the group on the basis of attempting to delegitimize the election process, and for its role in potentially instigating physical 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. The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group,” a Facebook spokesperson told OneZero.
For two days, the group promoted baseless claims about election fraud, such as the conspiracy theory that Trump votes were being discarded.
The group was reportedly started by Women for America First, a conservative nonprofit founded by political activist Amy Kremer and her daughter, Kylie, according to Reuters.
