Facebook bans German accounts under new 'social harm' policy

Facebook removed astir 150 accounts and pages linked to anti-lockdown demonstrators successful Germany, the institution announced Thursday, nether a caller argumentation focused connected groups that dispersed misinformation oregon incite unit but who don't acceptable into the platform's existing categories of atrocious actors.

The accounts connected Facebook and Instagram dispersed contented linked to the alleged Querdenken movement, a disparate radical that has protested lockdown measures successful Germany and includes vaccine and disguise opponents, conspiracy theorists and immoderate far-right extremists.

Posts from the accounts included 1 making the debunked assertion that vaccines make viral variants and different that wished decease upon police officers who broke up convulsive anti-lockdown protests successful Berlin.

The enactment is the archetypal nether Facebook's new policy focused connected preventing "coordinated societal harm," which institution officials said is an effort to code contented from societal media users who enactment unneurotic to dispersed harmful contented and evade level rules.

Under its long-standing guidelines, Facebook has removed accounts that usage mendacious personas oregon dispersed hatred code oregon marque threats of violence. The caller argumentation is intended to drawback groups that enactment unneurotic successful an effort to get astir the rules, portion inactive spreading harmful content.

In the lawsuit of the Querdenken network, Facebook said aggregate account holders utilized some idiosyncratic and duplicate accounts to dispersed contented that violated Facebook's rules connected COVID-19 misinformation, hatred speech, bullying and incitement of violence.

It was that coordinated effort to deceive, on with the harmful contented and a past of past violations, that prompted Facebook's action, according to Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's caput of information policy.

"Simply sharing a content oregon affinity with a peculiar question oregon radical wouldn't beryllium enough" to warrant a akin response, helium told reporters connected a league telephone Thursday.

Germany's home quality bureau has enactment immoderate Querdenker adherents nether surveillance arsenic the question has go progressively radicalized and its protests person attracted neo-Nazis and different right-wing extremists.

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