Facebook Inc has now taken the front seat in the battle against the anti-government ‘boogaloo’ movement. On Tuesday, they banned accounts of all those who have been encouraging violence as anti-racism protests take the United States by storm.
The social media company referred to the boogaloo followers as a dangerous organization. Soon after, they were slammed with Facebook sanctions that also apply to 250 white supremacist organizations and groups suspected of supporting terrorism. This step was taken by Facebook four days after William Barr, the Attorney General set up a Justice Department task force. The aim of this was to counter and stop violent actions being taken by anti-government extremists. This included boogaloo along with the Antifa movement.
The name ‘Boogaloo’ has been given to this movement by supporters. They were inspired by a breakdancing film released in 1984 by the name Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo. It is symbolic of the fact that since the movie was a sequel, any conflict in the future would be considered a follow-up of the American Civil War.
The company stated that they have disassociated themselves from the movement entirely. They refused to have any presence of adherents of the movement on the platform. Facebook has also been removing any content that praises, supports, or represents this particular anti-government movement. In a blog post, they also said that they will not allow any movement to promote violence against law enforcement, civilians, or government institutions and officials.
The steps taken by the social media giant will also include the removal of shared pictures. The targeted network that supports the movement includes 220 accounts and 106 Facebook groups. 400 other groups who were posting and sharing similar content were also taken off.
Prosecutors have revealed that they were able to link the boogaloo movement with a couple of violent incidents. These unfortunate incidents occurred when the recent wave of protests swept the United States off its feet. They started soon after the police killing of African-American George Floyd in the city of Minneapolis.
In California, a courthouse guard was murdered by two men. They were a part of the nearby protests and had received inspiration from the boogaloo movement.
Three people who prosecutors claim are part of the boogaloo movement were arrested in Las Vegas. They were later charged with intent to incite violence and cause destruction as the protests carried on.
Distributed Denial of Secrets, a leaks site published a couple of hack documents on June 19th. This contained evidence that U.S. law enforcement was becoming concerned about the boogaloo movement and its speedy escalation of violence. Amongst the documents were dozens of analyses. They all pointed towards a single conclusion that the term ‘boogaloo’ is being used by those who are racially motivated. It was stated that the movement’s only aim was to encourage violence against the police.
A Southern Poverty Law Center said that the term is being used by neo-Nazis and white nationalists who want nothing but anarchy in the society.
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