Berlin Facebook has deleted almost 150 accounts and groups on its platforms that the internet company assigns to the controversial maverick movement. Facebook security manager Nathaniel Gleicher told the German Press Agency on Thursday that it was the first targeted action in the world directed against a group that caused “coordinated social harm”. The accounts of lateral thinking founder Michael Ballweg are also affected.
The campaign is directed against “lateral thinkers” on Facebook and Instagram. The WhatsApp chat service, which is also part of the Facebook group, is not affected. Facebook manager Gleicher accused the lateral thinkers of repeatedly violating Facebook’s community standards in a coordinated manner. “This includes the publication of health-related misinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence.” In a blog post, Gleicher pointed out the potential danger of such content: “The content in its present form has the potential to turn into real violence and also cause social damage in other forms to prepare. “
Facebook has also identified a list of lateral thinkers’ websites that can no longer be linked on Facebook: “We have removed links to domains of the lateral thinking movement from our platform.”
Ballweg announced that it would take legal action against the deletion. In particular, the Facebook page of “Quer Think711” with over 30,000 subscribers only had content on the subjects of fundamental rights and freedom of expression. You have already been able to legally defend yourself against unjustified deletions several times in the past few months, he told the dpa.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The “harmful network” was operated by people who were associated with violence outside the platform and other “social harm”. Authentic users are usually involved in these coordinated campaigns. “These are not fake profiles, but real people who organize themselves to systematically violate our guidelines and to cause damage on or outside of our platform,” said Gleicher.
However, people on the network also used duplicate accounts to post and distribute harmful content. “Lateral thinking” primarily focuses on promoting the conspiracy narrative that the German government’s Covid-19 restrictions are part of a larger plan to deprive citizens of their freedoms and fundamental rights. “As is known from the public media, this group has exercised real violence in Germany against people who work in journalism, the police or in the health sector,” says the Facebook manager’s blog entry.
Lateral thinkers are observed by state offices for the protection of the constitution
The supporters of the “lateral thinking” initiative have been taking to the streets against the state corona measures for months. During the demonstrations in Berlin and other cities, there were also attacks on police officers and media representatives. The movement is now being observed by various state offices for the protection of the constitution.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has the scene as a “collective observation object” in its sights, similar to Salafism. Secret service resources can also be used for surveillance, and bank accounts and financial flows between the actors can be screened.
At the end of May, the YouTube video platform had already deleted the “Quer Think 711” channel. A Google spokesman accused the controversial group of violating YouTube’s guidelines for misinformation. Michael Ballweg, spokesman for “lateral thinking 711”, denied the allegations at the time and announced that he wanted to switch to a decentralized alternative to YouTube. In social networks, lateral thinking is now mainly on the Telegram platform, which does not delete even extremist content.
More: Europe wants to declare war on Facebook and Co. – but Germany is not going along
.