Facebook bans extremist Boogaloo groups after profiting from their adverts 'for months'

The Boogaloo movement is an US-based anti-government group which has gained momentum against the Black Lives Matter movement

(AFP via Getty Images)

Facebook has designated the “Boogaloo” movement a “dangerous organisation” and banned it, after reportedly profiting from adverts sold by the movement for months.

The Boogaloo movement is a US-based anti-government network, with a subsection of its community that “seeks to commit violence”, according to a blog post by Facebook announcing the ban.

The movement is divided over ideological issues, including “goal of a civil conflict, racism and anti-Semitism”.

“For months, we have removed Boogaloo content when there is a clear connection to violence or a credible threat to public safety, and today’s designation will mean we remove more content going forward”, the company said.

Facebook will now remove Groups and Pages of the organisation when they are defined as dangerous. This definition includes promoting:

• Terrorist activity
• Organised hate
• Mass murder (including attempts) or multiple murder
• Human trafficking
• Organised violence or criminal activity

Facebook deleted 220 Facebook accounts, 95 Instagram accounts, 28 Pages and 106 groups from that network. It also removed over 400 additional groups and over 100 other Pages for violation of its policies.

However, as Buzzfeed News reports, the social media company has been making money through adverts paid to be on its platform by members of the Boogaloo movement.

These adverts contain messages that people should “join the militia, fight the state” and feature music that proclaims: “We ain't scared of no police, We got guns too.“

Adverts such as these were featured on Facebook and its subsidiary photo-sharing site, Instagram.

“That does not sound good,” a Facebook spokesperson said to Buzzfeed News when informed of the content of the adverts.

They also said that such adverts would be internally reviewed, as the announcement on Tuesday was “just the start of the impact” on Boogaloo movements.

“We will continue to monitor for symbols and content that the violent network uses and update police and enforcement,” the spokesperson also said. “If it’s organic content, it will certainly come down, as well as in ads.”

The Boogaloo movement has gained momentum recently in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been protesting consistently across the United States for the past month.

Some of the adverts from the movement referenced Black Lives Matter hashtags, such as #BreonnaTaylor and #GeorgeFloyd.

Facebook’s move comes as other social networks are cracking down on far-right content that violates their terms of service.

Reddit removed political subreddits which broke its rules, including a prominent community for supporters of president Trump called r/The_Donald which had become a hub for white nationalist and racist content.

Similarly, Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch removed the account of Mr Trump for “hateful conduct”.

At the same time, advertisers are taking action against Facebook for “promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism and violence,” with many big name brands removing their marketing from the company’s platforms.