Thread by @LuluLemew, Online extremists are using Facebook to plan and organize for a militant [...]

Online extremists are using Facebook to plan and organize for a militant uprising in the US as they cast coronavirus lockdowns as a sign of rising govt suppression, according to a Tech Transparency Project investigation. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo-facebook-pages-coronavirus-militia-group-extremists_n_5ea3072bc5b6d376358eba98

Amid The Pandemic, U.S. Militia Groups Plot ‘The Boogaloo,’ AKA Civil War, On Facebook

Extremists are promoting anti-government violence on Facebook during the coronavirus pandemic. The social media giant appears to be doing little about it.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo-facebook-pages-coronavirus-militia-group-extremists_n_5ea3072bc5b6d376358eba98

The groups are fanning fears of government lockdowns as they prepare for an uprising they call the “boogaloo.”

A review by TTP found 125 Facebook groups devoted to the “boogaloo,” the term that far-right extremists use to describe a coming civil war.

60%+ of the groups were created in the last 3mo, as Covid-19 quarantines took hold they’ve attracted 10s of 1000s in the last 30 days.

In several private boogaloo Facebook groups that TTP was able to access, members discussed tactical strategies, combat medicine, and various types of weapons, including how to develop explosives and the merits of using flame throwers.

Some members appeared to take inspiration from Trump’s recent tweets calling on people to “liberate” states where governors have imposed stay-at-home orders.

The fact that Facebook is letting such activity proliferate, despite explicit threats of violence to government authorities, is another sign of the company’s inability to manage harmful content on its platform—even among groups that make no secret of their intentions.

Some boogaloo supporters see the public health lockdowns and other directives by states and cities across the country as a violation of their rights, and they’re aiming to harness public frustration at such measures to rally and attract new followers to their cause.

The “boogaloo” has been gaining in popularity & it’s become a meme among far-right extremists.

On public Fb pages, supporters of the movement circulate satirical posts about govt overthrow, painting the boogaloo as a viral online phenomenon rather than a real-world threat.

But communications of boogaloo supporters in private Fb groups accessed by TTP tell a different story:

extremists exchanging detailed info/ tactics on how to organize/ execute a revolt against US authorities.

This activity is occurring w no apparent intervention by Facebook

Of the 125 boogaloo-focused Fb groups identified by TTP
63% (79) created Feb—April 2020

The groups count 72,686 members, though it wasn’t clear how many may be members of more than one group.

Nearly half of the members (36,117) have joined the groups within the past 30 days.

TTP identified the boogaloo groups based on their names, which often incorporated slang and other terms used by supporters to reference the coming civil war, such as “boog,” “big igloo,” and “boojihadeen.”

The majority of the groups—112, or roughly 89%—are private, which means Facebook users must request to join and be approved by moderators in order to view the discussions.

TTP was able to gain access to several of these closed groups. But even when TTP didn’t gain entry into private groups, it was able to glean basic information about them.

Facebook allows non-members to see data like the groups’ date of creation, number of members, growth rate of membership within a 30-day period, and number of posts during that period.

Both the public and private boogaloo groups that TTP reviewed appear to violate Facebook policies.

The platform’s Community Standards on “Violence and Criminal Behavior” explicitly ban facilitating, organizing or promoting “harmful activities targeted at people.”

They also prohibit “statements of intent to commit high-severity violence.” Yet membership in the groups appears to have grown unchecked on Facebook in recent months.

Fb has been on notice about the issue since at least Feb, when the Network Contagion Research Institute, that tracks misinfo & hate on social media, published a report on how the use of boogaloo to call for extreme violence has spread across social media over the past few months.

In response to NBC inquiries about the report, a Facebook spokesperson said the company is tracking such activity.

"We've been studying trends around this and related terms on Facebook and Instagram. We don't allow speech used to incite hate or violence, and will remove any content that violates our policies. We'll continue to monitor this across our platform."

April study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a London-based think tank that studies extremism, found

“COVID-19 is being used to advance calls for the ‘boogaloo,’” + two boogaloo-related Fb groups have seen large spikes in engagement recent months.

One of the groups, Big Igloo Bois, saw an 88% jump in interactions in March, according to the study.

Trump’s tweets about liberating Virginia, Michigan and Minnesota appear to have energized some elements of the boogaloo movement.

TTP found that some members of private boogaloo Facebook groups reacted to Trump’s rhetoric with memes of celebration and traded details of anti-quarantine protests in Richmond, Va and Harrisburg, Pa

Facebook later began removing posts promoting the protests in states like California, New Jersey and Nebraska, saying it takes the action “when gatherings do not follow the health parameters established by the government and are therefore unlawful."

The company’s enforcement, however, appears to be piecemeal. TTP found protest announcements promoted in private boogaloo Facebook groups that remained active after Facebook’s action.

One event encouraged people to attend a Wisconsin protest slated for April 24, even though the state is under a stay-at-home order until May 26. The event page lists more than 3,200 people as attending and another 12,000 as interested.

Among the most popular boogaloo-themed pages on Facebook is Thicc Boog Line, a boogaloo clothing brand that has generated nearly 30,000 followers since its October 2019 founding.

Thicc Boog Line sells boogaloo-branded clothing and accessories, using its Facebook page to promote merchandise and periodically post memes related to opportunities for the boogaloo in the time of Covid-19.

The Thicc Boog Line page is also an administrator of at least 11 private Facebook groups related to preparations for a civil war.

The groups are organized into tactical roles such as intelligence collection, technology, communication, machinery, combat medicine, and weapons discussion.

They also have a “backup group” to be used in the event that the others are removed from Facebook.

TTP’s analysis found that Thicc Boog Line and other boogaloo group admins explicitly ban memes from their private groups to keep members focused on serious dialogue around organizing ranks and sharing intelligence.

The groups engage in national-level coordination or act as state and local chapters where users share tactical information and survival tips, ranging from topographic map access to instructions for evading authorities.

One of the largest boogaloo groups identified by TTP is moderated by Thicc Boog Line. The group, “BoojieBastards: Intelligence and Surveillance,” has gained over 6,600 members since it was created on February 16—a rate of over 100 new members per day.

Videos related to the boogaloo are also generating significant viewership on other platforms.

TTP found that a YouTube video on the “Top 5 Boogaloo Guns” had 25,000↑ views just 5h after it was posted.

The YouTube channel that published the video has over 2.3M subscribers.

Boogaloo Organizers Include White Supremacists

Organizations that study far right groups, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Institute for Strategic Dialogue, have found that the boogaloo has ties to white supremacist movements.

TTP’s analysis of private boogaloo Facebook groups found that some members’ profiles include images of Hitler and suggest white supremacist ideologies.

But other members (including many of the admins) state that they do not align with white supremacists.

“lie with dogs ...”

TTP found that members of the BoojieBastards: Intelligence and Surveillance Fb group include users identifying as:
▪︎ veterans
▪︎ active military
▪︎ retired and active police
▪︎ supporters and detractors of Trump
▪︎ average citizens with no obvious political ideology.

Many of them share an interest in preparing for a civil war, and they have identified the government-led Covid-19 lockdowns as a critical moment.

Discussions among the group members show mixed feelings about using Facebook as a means of communication.

One member post on March 20 chastised others for not being careful enough while talking about civil war preparations on social media, noting that

“the boog[aloo] is a class of sleep cell organization and SLEEPER CELLS work on the basis that you don’t post about it.”

Members of these groups have posted channels for communications on outside apps like Discord, but the fact that they’re posting them on Fb suggests they’re still reliant on the social network’s reach.

Fb is the largest social media platform in the world, giving domestic extremists access to millions of potential recruits.

Documents Detail Civil War Plan
Boogaloo group members have used the Files function in Facebook groups to upload dozens of planning documents, including military manuals, CIA handbooks, and instructions on how to reuse N95 facemasks, among other material.

Many of the files are digital versions of open source data and military operations information. One, called The ▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋, is notorious for its instructions on bomb making.

The most concerning doc is one entitled ▋▋▋▋▋▋, a reference to the boogaloo.

At over 133 pages, it provides an in-depth look at preparing for the boogaloo & has advice on:
⚑ what weapons to use
⚑ what propaganda to distribute
⚑ how to psychologically win over civilians

The doc mentions

“target selection”
It notes that assassinations of figureheads are “overrated”
but “some people have to go”

discusses how to disrupt USgov supply lines:

“national guard depots, police stations & factories that produce munitions are all very solid targets.”

PROPAGANDA
the document notes that

the most important job is “to make the enemy (government forces) see that they are not fighting terrorists, they are fighting their own countrymen who simply love liberty.”

A Fb profile that appears to be a pseudonym for an Ark. man named Aaron Swenson—who was arrested after live-streaming himself looking for a police officer to kill, according to authorities—has liked more than a dozen pages that mention boogaloo, including Thicc Boog Line.

Some Fb users leaving comments on his profile on the night of the attempted attack
▪︎ endorsed the targeting of police
▪︎ others suggested calling 911 about the live broadcast

The 2 videos remain active on the Fb page
They have amassed over 1,500 & 3,400 views, respectively.

After Swenson’s arrest, one boogaloo supporter, posting in the BoojieBastards: Intelligence and Surveillance group, said those who encouraged the attack “ended this man’s life,” while another called unprovoked violence “a danger to the group and movement.”

https://twitter.com/cpicciolini/status/1254171138026082316?s=21 https://twitter.com/cpicciolini/status/1254171138026082316