This article is a must-read. A Snopes investigation traces many of the FB Pro-Trump, hate speech, and conspiracy theories (including titles that imply diverse support from Americans, with names like "Blacks for Trump" and "Jews and Christians for America” among others [“Teachers for Trump,” “Women for Trump,” “Catholics for Trump,” etc.) to a radical evangelical network, whose primary author is neither Black, nor Jewish (nor many of the other purported groups). This “Kullberg” network “could be” (is) in violation of Facebook’s ban on “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
From the article:
Why does this matter? This network, and others that employ similar tactics, can affect online discourse in several ways:
- The network serves to influence public opinion by presenting the views of a small group of activists as representative of a much broader swath of the American populace.
- Their strategy amplifies and offers a veil of legitimacy to hatred and conspiracy theories.
- In spite of these strategies awash in misinformation, the pages within the network have attracted the financial backing of well-heeled political donors who exploit these pages and groups to disguise the origin of political Facebook ads.
- Facebook has not publicly commented on whether the Kullberg network violates their terms of service, but two posts we showed them (and no one else) were deleted after we reached out to the company for comment.