Facebook has deleted nearly 150 accounts and groups on its platforms that the Internet company attributes to the controversial “Querdenker” (“lateral thinkers”) movement. It is the first targeted action worldwide against a group that causes “coordinated harm to society,” Facebook security manager Nathaniel Gleicher told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The accounts of “Querdenken” founder Michael Ballweg, who had repeatedly called for protests against the Corona policy, were also affected, he said. The action is directed against “Querdenker “on Facebook itself and Instagram. Gleicher accused the “Querdenker” of repeatedly violating Facebook’s community standards in a coordinated manner. “These include publishing health-related misinformation, hate speech and inciting violence.”
Ballweg announced that he would take legal action against the deletion. In particular, the Facebook page of “Querdenken711” with over 30,000 subscribers had only content on the topics of fundamental rights and freedom of expression on the topic. One had already been able to defend oneself legally against unjustified deletions several times in the past months, he told dpa. The “harmful network” had been run by people associated with violence outside the platform and other “social harm,” he said.
source: www.ndr.de