Militia extremists, once more banned from Facebook, are having fun with renewed popularity in the general public eye

When journalists raised the alarm in early May 2024 that greater than 100 extremist militia groups Although militias had organized and communicated on Facebook, it was not the primary time that they’d attracted attention with their online activities.

As a Militias ScholarI actually have seen extremists being kicked off Facebook.

This time the moderators of the platform around 100 pages and profiles removed for violating the principles of the social network, which prohibit: “militarized social movements.”

These organizations include U.S. militias, typically groups of armed individuals who meet frequently for goal practice and discussions on cultural and political issues. They also take personal responsibility for defending their communities and country from a wide range of potential threats.

Some militias are attempting to defend themselves against the federal government, while others are preparing to attack. But all are committed to protecting Second Amendment rights and imagine they’re protecting democracy from the tyranny of presidency that will otherwise don’t have any control over them.

The 100 groups that were recently removed are only a small fraction of the hundreds of militia groups that Facebook previously thrown from the side, allegedly permanently. Nevertheless, there may be cause for concern that militias seem like attempting to reclaim the platform to network, recruit members and publicise their activities.

Caught unprepared

In the months leading as much as the 2020 presidential election, Facebook blocked and removed the Facebook profiles and pages of about 10,000 militia groups and militiamen. The company completely deleted the groups' comments and interactions, even on topics unrelated to militia activities.

For scientists like meit was a scary time. When I went on Facebook, it gave the look of these people and organizations had never existed. I had studied them for many years and so they had simply disappeared – even from the pages I had created to watch their activities.

Facebook has long been the first place on the Internet where militias chat with other militias, find out about their preferred tools and techniques, and in some cases Planning acts of violence. Most militia groups on the time had publicly accessible pages for his or her units and openly discussed a lot of their actions. However, essentially the most nefarious groups operated behind private or invitation-only groups that researchers and law enforcement didn’t all the time have access to.

Militias wish to think they’re prepared for each eventuality, be it a natural disaster, an invasion by foreign governments or a more mundane emergency like a automobile crash. But it seems that the majority of those groups had no meaningful contingency plan for what they’d do in the event that they lost access to Facebook, the social network where most of them were most energetic.

Some members tried to regroup on various other platforms, but and not using a clear plan to achieve this, they struggled to reconnect with one another after Facebook suspended their profiles. This motion, which scholars call “deplatforming,” was, for my part, by far essentially the most disruptive event within the history of the militia movement since it dramatically and quickly disrupted the movement's ability to coordinate across state lines.

An opportunity for radicalization

Deplatforming can have downsides, too. People who’re most indignant about perceived government actions or cultural conditions are those most motivated to search out one another online. So Facebook was a gathering point and meeting place for these people, increasing opportunities for people to grow to be radicalized and potentially violent.

Since they were expelled from Facebook and other platformsa lot of them have moved to platforms which are harder for researchers and police to watch for clues about recent threats. That's a drawback.

Moreover, the experience of being banned from Facebook can have been a radicalizing moment for some. Some militia members I follow interpreted their exclusion from the platform as further proof of their perceived oppression. Some of them argued that it was a violation of their First Amendment rights—although private corporations will not be held to those legal standards.

My research also revealed that a lot of these militia members never actually left Facebook. I personally observed them opening recent accounts almost immediately, and so they only appeared to be blocked from doing so in the event that they used the name or email address related to their previous account that had been faraway from the platform.

These people hide behind different names and email addresses but have remained energetic on Facebook since 2020. Most of those that avoided everlasting bans by changing their names will not be amongst those kicked out within the recent purge. So far, they’ve chosen to remain under the radar moderately than openly admit their militia affiliation.

Comfort in public

The groups which have reclaimed their militia identities on Facebook appear to incorporate previously banned groups, a few of which use their former unit names and a few of which have renamed themselves, in addition to recent groups with individuals who had not publicly identified themselves as militia members before the 2020 purge.

The undeniable fact that groups were openly operating with military-related names on Facebook in 2024 means they’re testing the platform's moderation efforts. And it's an indication that they're becoming increasingly comfortable as visible, public entities.

And this despite the increasing public attention that followed criminal convictions of militia members for his or her involvement within the January 6, 2021 riot and in a 2020 militia plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan.

These apparent militia efforts to reclaim Facebook as a semi-public platform are just like militia efforts in places like Virginia to openly organize, recruit, and take part in politics. Together, they function a reminder that the elemental concerns and beliefs of militia members haven’t disappeared over the past 4 years, but moderately are ready for potential calls to motion because the 2024 election season continues.

During his time in office, President Donald Trump frequently appealed to the fears shared by militia members. His actions included direct calls to the Proud Boys to “step back and stand by“and more subtle but still derogatory remarks about immigrants, transgender people, and other perceived threats to American culture. The militia's efforts to re-enter the general public consciousness suggest that its members sense each a way of legitimacy and a necessity for motion with the 2024 election looming.

While researchers like me don’t currently anticipate one other major event just like the Capitol breach, we’re very concerned in regards to the potential coordination of policies on the state and native levels, especially those directly related to the electoral process and results.