In response to the January 6 insurrection, Facebook has moved to remove “Stop the Steal” election misinformation from the platform, but the new policy appears to be extremely limited, banning only posts or groups using that exact phrase. As a result, the social media giant is allowing activity dedicated to stopping nonexistent election fraud to continue to thrive.
On January 6, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, seeking to overturn the presidential election after then-President Donald Trump -- and his supporters in right-wing media and on social media -- spent months pushing misinformation to subvert the election. Facebook has attempted to both downplay the role the platform played in organizing these events and claim it has sufficiently addressed the issue. In reality, these measures were insufficient to address the misinformation and organizing that enabled the insurrection.
Media Matters has identified posts from Republican members of Congress prior to January 6 that pushed the false notion that Democrats stole the election and promoted “Stop the Steal” rallies. These posts are still on Facebook. Additionally:
- Media Matters identified at least 230 Facebook groups related to election fraud. As of January 28, over 150 of these groups still remain active.
- Of these groups, 91 specifically mentioned “Stop the Steal” or used similar language about a “stolen election” in their name or within posts. As of January 28, Facebook removed 66 of these groups, 2 have been archived, and 23 remain active.
- The additional 139 groups didn’t mention “Stop the Steal” specifically, but are related to so-called election fraud. As of January 28, 129 of these groups are still active, despite having similar content to the “Stop the Steal” groups. Facebook removed 6 groups and 4 others have been archived.
