Facebook Didn’t Remove Kenosha Guard Gang Event Page

Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman, reporting for BuzzFeed News:

Despite Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s previous statements that the company had removed a militia event where people discussed gathering in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to shoot and kill protesters, the company never took any such action, BuzzFeed News has learned. The event was taken down by the militia group itself after two people were killed. […]

“I fully plan to kill looters and rioters tonight,” one person wrote on the event page, according to screenshots seen by BuzzFeed News. “I have my suppressor on my AR [rifle], these fools won’t even know what hit them.” “When the shooting starts, make sure that somebody is sending a live feed of the mother fuckers going down,” said another. […]

After the shootings, chatter on the Kenosha Guard event page took on a celebratory tone. “Tried to attack business owners, got their azzes shot off. MORE please… this needs to happen a LOT MORE,” wrote one man. “1 protester dead got shot in the head… then they tried to attack the guy and a couple more got shot. Gotta love it,” wrote a man who was labeled by Facebook’s automated system as a “Top Fan” in the group due to his frequent posting.

Top fan indeed.

Anyone who insists on describing these groups as militia instead of gangs needs to explain what the difference is between a militia and a gang. Pretty sure no news organization can do so, because it’s obvious that the difference is simply whether the members are “conservative” white men.

★ Thursday, 3 September 2020