The far-right extremists who invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 used mainstream platforms including Facebook to livestream their desecration of the seat of American democracy. The presence of white supremacist online communities suddenly came into sharp focus despite the fact that they had been organizing for such an attack for months. The capitol rioters displayed the flag of Kekistan, a rip-off of the Wehrmacht’s war ensigns used by 4chan posters, and wore clothing that made prominent reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory. Among them, white supremacist militias were also present—with symbols of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters on display along with the Confederate flag.
Despite many warnings of these groups’ extremism and violent intentions, social media companies have been reluctant to remove far-right extremists who repeatedly and deliberately violate their rules from their platforms. This was not the case for jihadis: In 2014 and 2015, social media companies and governments worked together to deplatform them, drastically reducing their capacity to disseminate propaganda and radicalize followers. Undoubtedly, countering the far-right is more complicated—but social media platforms will not act until there is sufficient pressure from governments.
