Coronavirus: Facebook refuses to crack down on groups organising armed anti-lockdown marches

Online groups spreading misinformation and calling for armed protests against coronavirus lockdown measures in the US are proliferating on Facebook after the technology giant said it would not take action against them.

Pro-gun protestors from Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin and other states have used the social network to organise and coordinate anti-quarantine action. The groups have hundreds of thousands of members combined, and appear to be largely made up of Trump supporters.

“We are organising an armed march,” a recent post to the group Michigan Militia states. “We tried a regular unarmed march but they did not listen to us. Now it is time to use force... We will not stop until they hear us out and listen to us!!”

Many of the groups have surged in popularity in recent days, following the US President’s call to “liberate” three states by ending strict confinement rules designed to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. “Save your great 2nd Amendment,” he tweeted last week. “It is under siege.”

The White House outlined three phases to allow states to reopen safely last week, however these were subsequently undermined by Trump when he endorsed protests over the weekend.

“If people feel that way, you’re allowed to protest,” he said on Sunday. “Some governors have gone too far, some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate.”

A Facebook spokesperson acknowledged the groups but told The Independent that it did not plan to remove them unless they were explicitly breaking the law.

“Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organised on Facebook,” the spokesperson said. “For this same reason, events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook.”

The policy appears to go against recent action taken by Facebook to crack down on people who post dangerous content relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of the groups promote the idea that the Covid-19 virus is no worse than a common flu, despite warnings from the World Health Organisation that it poses a greater risk to people’s lives.

There have been more than 770,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US and 41,316 deaths, making it the worst affected country in the world.

Protestors have downplayed the scale of the crisis and called for local businesses to reopen amid record job losses and dire economic forecasts.

Some of the Facebook groups have been set up by a trio of far-right provocateurs, according to The Washington Post, who tracked Facebook groups targeting Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Siblings Aaron, Ben and Christopher Dorr are reportedly behind many of the groups calling for mass disturbance.

Polls show that most Americans support lockdown measures, with a recent Gallup survey revealing that more than 70 per cent of people would “wait to see what happens with the coronavirus” before resuming normal activities, even after government restrictions on social contact are lifted.