Steve Bannon updates one of his Facebook groups with “TAKE ACTION. THEY ARE TRYING TO STEAL THE ELECTION.” The Capitol is stormed less than 24 hours later.
Around the same time, Donald Trump had spoken with Bannon multiple times for help overturning the election.
In November, Facebook removed seven Pages operated by Bannon that he used to spread election disinformation to hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters. Apparently, that ban didn’t apply to Facebook Groups.
Bannon’s Facebook group was set up two days after the election, on Nov. 5, but it was originally called “Stop the Steal.” Bannon changed the name a day later after Facebook had shut down another group of the same name that had amassed hundreds of thousands of new followers in a single day… It promoted baseless conspiracy theories that the election had been stolen, as well as QAnon conspiracy theories.
Vice
Sources
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vqgb/steve-bannon-urged-facebook-followers-to-take-action-on-eve-of-capitol-riot
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/01/15/steve-bannon-reportedly-encouraged-facebook-followers-to-take-action-day-before-capitol-riots/
Photo: Nordiske Mediedager (cropped)