Facebook cracks down on pages spreading ‘Stop the Steal’ US election misinformation

Social platforms took a variety of steps to police misinformation during and after the US presidential election. Do you think social media has fared well this time?

Facebook removes pages linked to Stephen Bannon for pushing misinformation (REUTERS)

Despite various measures, social networking platforms continued to struggle with the spread of misinformation and fake news during and after the US presidential election. Take the example of Facebook. The company is still making efforts to get a hold of people and groups spreading misinformation through “Stop the Steal” messaging. Facebook has reportedly taken down a few prominent pages and one group that were found promoting misinformation, according to The Washington Post.

According to the report, Facebook took down pages that were linked to Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon. The move has impacted at least seven pages that had more than 2 million followers.

Confirming the move, Facebook told The Washington Post that these pages used inauthentic behaviour tactics to manipulate the reach of their content.

“We've removed several clusters of activity for using inauthentic behavior tactics to artificially boost how many people saw their content,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone told the publication. “That includes a Group that was originally named ‘Stop the Steal' which later became ‘Gay Communists for Socialism' and misled people about its purpose using deceptive tactics.”

As said earlier, social platforms took various measures to prevent misinformation. Twitter even went on to label tweets from US President Donald Trump. Facebook and YouTube also took steps to counter the spread of fake news and abuse. The “Stop the Steal”, however, has become a new menace for social platforms as numerous groups have sprouted and have successfully gained big followings.