On Thursday, Facebook’s parent company Meta announced that it has recently deleted a total of 480 accounts linked to the Proud Boys group. The group is notorious for its ties with various White supremacist organizations in the U.S. and for causing political violence in the country.
Four years ago, Facebook first banned all the accounts associated with the Proud Boys group from its network. However, that didn’t stop the members from trying to find their way back to this social networking site. The accounts, pages, and groups were once again operating on Facebook and Instagram.
According to Meta, the company used its comprehensive strategy known as “strategic network disruption” to get rid of these accounts. Meta has designed this strategy to spot and remove groups and accounts linked to terrorists and other dangerous organizations. The company claims that this strategy is an important tool that helps them keep their platforms and communities safe.
After Meta announced the removal of the Proud Boys accounts from its network, the company’s Counterterrorism Policy Lead, Dina Hussein also tweeted about the issue. She wrote on Twitter, “While there’s no silver bullet here, our approach is impacting these dangerous organizations, and we can see adversaries trying harder to hide their affiliation & change tactics. We’ll continue to stay vigilant and share our findings.”
Not only this, but Meta has also removed almost 750 other accounts linked to the Proud Boys organization during its regular moderation process in 2022 so far. According to the company, these accounts were subtly trying to direct Facebook users to other platforms where the Proud Boys organization was free to operate.
