Facebook shuts down huge pro-Trump ‘Stop the Steal’ group over calls for violence

Facebook has removed a rapidly growing group claiming the US election is being stolen from Donald Trump, amid growing fears that it could lead to real world violence.

The “Stop the Steal” group had reached more than 350,000 members just a day after being set up before it was deleted by Facebook on Thursday evening.  It had become a hub for conspiracy theories about the vote and calls for people to protest, in some cases in ways that could lead to violence.

False claims surrounding election fraud have exploded online since polls closed on Tuesday as the lengthy vote-counting process, a result of more postal votes during the pandemic, creates continued uncertainty about the outcome.

Although some of the claims in the Stop the Steal group had carried Facebook fact checking labels, the ballooning size of the group — it was adding 1,000 members every 10 seconds on Thursday — meant many had not.

A Facebook spokesperson said: "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 delegitimisation of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group."

The group had been set up by Women for America First, a pro-Trump organisation set up by Amy Kremer, a former Tea Party activist.  It had been asking for donations from users, which according to its Facebook page would be used to pay for flights and hotels to send protestors to Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan, states where the counting process has been disputed by the Trump campaign.

“Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and nullify Republican votes. It’s up to us, the American People, to fight and to put a stop to it,” the page description had read. “Along with President Trump, we will do whatever it takes to ensure the integrity of this election for the good of the nation.” Protests surrounding the legitimacy of the election have flared up in states such as Arizona and Michigan, including outside voting centres as votes continue to be counted.

Facebook and Twitter have scrambled to respond to attempts to delegitimise the election.

On Thursday, Twitter continued to add warning labels to tweets from the President. Tweets including “STOP THE FRAUD!” and “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!” were restricted so that users had to click past a warning label to see them and could not retweet them. Facebook has added labels to all posts from Mr Trump and Joe Biden, stating that votes are still being counted.