Before the U.S. election and the Jan 6 Capitol assault, its groups buzzed with misinformation and violent rhetoric. “Stop the Steal” groups rapidly surged despite the halts on recommendations. In 2017, Facebook made the groups a strategic priority, and the feature was a way to facilitate “meaningful connections.” It is starting to remove the recommendations it gives global users for political and social issue Facebook groups, a move it has billed as turning down tension on the site. These changes were intended for reducing the reach of groups to break site rules, including lower algorithmic recommendations. Alerting people go to join a group that has previously violated policies.
Researchers and civil rights organizations warned the Facebook promoted places for people with common interests, like sports or music, used to spread misinformation and organize the extremist activity. Facebook was aggressively investing in groups. He said the changes to political and civic group recommendations due to users wanting to see less political content. The newly created groups need to wait 21 days before becoming eligible for the recommendation to Facebook to understand how the group operates.
During this pandemic, Facebook stopped recommending health groups to users, which needed authoritative sources of information. It requires group moderators to approve posts for groups with a “substantial” number of rule-breaking members or members who were part of other groups removed for rule violations. The rule-breaking groups content lower in members in the news feeds and temporarily stop repeat rule-breaking members from being able to post new groups.
