How Far-Right, Extremist Militias Organize On Facebook
WIRED Politics Lab
WIRED
4.2 • 244 Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Far-right militia, extremist groups are using Facebook to organize ahead of the US presidential election. After laying low for several years after the Capitol riot on January 6, militia extremists have been quietly reorganizing, ramping up recruitment and rhetoric on Facebook—with apparently little concern that Meta will enforce its own ban against them, according to new research by the Tech Transparency Project shared exclusively with Wired. These groups, which are set up locally, encourage members to engage in combat training and recruitment.
Today on WIRED Politics Lab, we discuss Facebook’s culpability, and what this means as we head into November.
Leah Feiger is @LeahFeiger. David Gilbert is @DaithaiGilbert. Tess Owen is @misstessowen. Write to us at [email protected]. Be sure to subscribe to the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter here.
Transcript
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| 0:15.5 | Hey there, I'm David Gilbert, a senior reporter on the Wired Politics team. Before we begin today's podcast, |
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| 0:55.9 | Welcome to Wired Politics Lab, a show about how tech is changing politics. |
| 1:00.9 | I'm Leah Feiger, the senior politics editor at Wired. |
| 1:04.1 | Today on the show, we're talking about an exclusive Wired story that just dropped today. |
| 1:08.8 | It details how far-right extremist militias are organizing online, |
| 1:12.8 | specifically on Facebook. After laying low for several years, militia extremists have been |
| 1:18.0 | quietly reorganizing. They formed a couple hundred Facebook groups and profiles, both public and |
| 1:23.7 | private, to recruit and assemble local militia activity across the country. |
| 1:29.4 | This isn't allowed for META's own safety standards. |
| 1:33.0 | But these groups are there coordinating on Facebook ahead of the November election, |
| 1:36.7 | encouraging combat training, and telling followers to prepare. |
| 1:40.4 | Joining me to talk about all of this is David Gilbert, a senior reporter on Wired's Politics Desk. |
| 1:45.2 | Hey, David. |
| 1:46.2 | Hey, Leah. |
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