The Trolls, the Political Operative, and the Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Pro-Bernie Facebook

[think]

The Trolls, the Political Operative, and the Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Pro-Bernie Facebook Groups

By Brendan O'Connor
Today 4:15pm

Last night, a number of Facebook groups organized by Bernie Sanders supporters were briefly (and somewhat mysteriously) suspended, prompting suspicion that the Hillary Clinton-allied super PAC Correct the Record, which last week announced a $1 million anti-troll effort called “Barrier Breakers” had gone on the offensive. Facebook attributed the suspension to an automated policy gone awry.

“A number of groups were inaccessible for a brief period after one of our automated policies was applied incorrectly,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement provided to Gawker. “We corrected the problem within hours and are working to improve our tools.” The spokesperson declined to clarify further on the record, or to offer examples of any groups other than those associated with Sanders supporters that were subject to the error.

Still, there is some evidence to suggest that the suspensions were triggered by a troll (or trolls) who posted offensive content in the Sanders groups. After a certain number of group members reported the content to Facebook, the groups themselves were suspended. “We had what looked like a kiddie porn posted in one of our groups today. I reported that one. Seriously made me want to vomit,” one woman told Heavy.com. Another group member, in a since-deleted comment, reported “a member who posted PORNO PICTURES (also a PEDOPHILE theme). I took a screenshot as a proof, which I won’t post for obvious reasons.”

According to a Gawker tipster, at least seven Sanders supporter groups—amounting to some 324,000 people (although many of those are surely members of more than one of the given groups)—were shut down. Screenshots taken by the blog U.S. Uncut show a Facebook user named Casey Champagne gloating about having successfully gotten a Sanders-supporter group suspended. Champagne’s account is no longer accessible, but his recent “likes” included the Facebook pages for Correct the Record and Barrier Breakers....


Read more:
http://gawker.com/the-trolls-the-political-operative-and-the-mysterious-1773153353

[bkkyosemite]

1. Her campaign is disgusting.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

2. The majority of voting Democrats are disgusting?

News to me...

[reddread]

3. this wont go away

what an obscenely stupid move

[think]

4. likes” included the Facebook pages for Correct the Record and Barrier Breakers

It's obvious where the motivation came from...