A group formed on Facebook named “Stop The Steal,” was formed to organize protesters outside of official election precincts.
The group gained 360,000 members, spread across a network of pages, events and groups according to the Washington Post, and rallied behind a groundless conspiracy theory touted by the President.
In a press conference Thursday (November 5), Trump claimed that illegal votes were being counted, and implied that the election was being stolen as a result.
Multiple news outlets cut their coverage of the press conference short.
The social media bombarded official election counting facilities in Detroit, Atlanta, Arizona, and Philadelphia.
Facebook disabled the group’s page, but not before members were incited to go to the facilities to protest the count.
Former Georgia congressional candidate and co-founder of the Women for Trump group, Amy Kremer posted to the Women for America First Facebook page, “We need boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote.”
Before being banned, the Washington Post reported that the page requested financial support for flights and lodging for people willing to travel for the cause.
Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Facebook made a statement pointing to the calls for violence as part of the reason the pages got removed.
A.J. Bauer, a visiting professor in the department of media, culture and communication at New York University described the online presence as a way for supporters galvanize around as the race leans in Joe Biden’s favor. He told the Washington Post, “They need something to queue up their relevance in the event Trump loses, and they’re leaning into grievances about the election being stolen.”
Photo: Getty Images