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Facebook Failed To Respond to Dire Emails Ahead of Capitol Riot
https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/02/12/facebook-capitol-riot/An email exchange between Snopes and Facebook spokespersons documented a failure to respond to a specific and dire warning. Emails from a Snopes reporter alerting Facebook communications staffers to violent rhetoric on the platform largely went ignored ahead of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot. New reporting links those specific warnings of future violence to acts that were carried out that day.
Just prior to Election Day (Nov. 3, 2020), Trump supporters surrounded and attempted to block a Biden-Harris campaign bus. The incident happened on Oct. 30, 2020, along Interstate 35 in Texas. Our reporting documented that the location of the bus was coordinated in the private Alamo City Trump Train Facebook group. The word “block” was specifically used in the group’s posts. Members commented with glee about the dangerous act, as reported in the story. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted his approval after it happened. Biden and Harris were not on the bus.
The New York Times later reported that a man named Keith Lee “spent the morning of Jan. 6 casing the entrances to the Capitol.” During the riots, he carried a bullhorn. “Mr. Lee called out for the mob to rush in, until his voice echoed from the dome of the Rotunda.”
According to the Times, Lee was involved in organizing the caravan and blockade of the Biden-Harris campaign bus in Texas. The newspaper also reported that Lee helped to fund “dozens of caravans to meet at the Jan. 6 rally”:
. . .
On Nov. 5, two months before the Capitol riot, we reported in a second story about the same Facebook group after finding disturbing and violent rhetoric. The messages hinted at future violent acts much like the siege on the Capitol.
For example, one group member said: “No more nice! It’s gotten us nowhere. #FightFireWithFire.”
. . .
After hearing nothing in return, a follow-up message was sent to the company the next day. Facebook did not respond.
. . .
Just prior to Election Day (Nov. 3, 2020), Trump supporters surrounded and attempted to block a Biden-Harris campaign bus. The incident happened on Oct. 30, 2020, along Interstate 35 in Texas. Our reporting documented that the location of the bus was coordinated in the private Alamo City Trump Train Facebook group. The word “block” was specifically used in the group’s posts. Members commented with glee about the dangerous act, as reported in the story. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted his approval after it happened. Biden and Harris were not on the bus.
The New York Times later reported that a man named Keith Lee “spent the morning of Jan. 6 casing the entrances to the Capitol.” During the riots, he carried a bullhorn. “Mr. Lee called out for the mob to rush in, until his voice echoed from the dome of the Rotunda.”
According to the Times, Lee was involved in organizing the caravan and blockade of the Biden-Harris campaign bus in Texas. The newspaper also reported that Lee helped to fund “dozens of caravans to meet at the Jan. 6 rally”:
. . .
On Nov. 5, two months before the Capitol riot, we reported in a second story about the same Facebook group after finding disturbing and violent rhetoric. The messages hinted at future violent acts much like the siege on the Capitol.
For example, one group member said: “No more nice! It’s gotten us nowhere. #FightFireWithFire.”
. . .
After hearing nothing in return, a follow-up message was sent to the company the next day. Facebook did not respond.
. . .
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