Facebook stated Thursday that it has taken down over 150 accounts and pages tied to anti-lockdown protesters in Germany, as part of a new policy aimed at groups that spread misinformation or encourage violence but don't fit into the platform's established categories of bad actors, according to Euronews.
The accounts on Facebook and Instagram distribute content associated with the so-called Querdenken movement, which includes vaccine and mask opponents, conspiracy theorists, and some far-right extremists and has protested lockdown measures in Germany.
One account posted the disproved assertion that immunizations cause viral variations, while another wished death on police officers who broke up violent anti-lockdown rallies in Berlin.
The move is the first under Facebook's new policy aimed at preventing "coordinated social harm," according to company officials. The policy aims to address content from social media users who collaborate to disseminate harmful content and circumvent platform restrictions.
Facebook has terminated accounts that employ false personas, propagate hate speech, or make threats of violence, in accordance with its long-standing policies. The new regulation aims to catch groups that collaborate in order to skirt the laws while still sharing damaging content.
Facebook stated several account holders utilised both inpidual and duplicate accounts to transmit content that violates Facebook's COVID-19 misinformation, hate speech, bullying, and incitement to violence guidelines in the instance of the Querdenken network.
According to Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, it was that organised effort to deceive, as well as the harmful information and a history of previous violations, that spurred the company's action.
On a conference call with reporters on Thursday, he said that “Simply sharing a belief or affinity with a particular movement or group wouldn’t be enough"to merit a similar response.
Because the Querdenker movement has become increasingly radicalised and its marches have attracted neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists, Germany's domestic intelligence service has placed some Querdenker adherents under surveillance.
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