These alternative social media sites were filled with Trump supporters organizing and communicating on Wednesday. In Parler, a hashtag on the rise was #stormthecapitol. Many Trump supporters on the websites also seemed to believe a false rumor that Antifa, a leftist movement, was responsible for committing violence in the protests.
“WAKE UP AMERICA, it is the ANTIFA and BLM agents who are committing the violence, NOT THE TRUMP SUPPORTERS!” Said a Parler account member named @ Trumpfans100, offering no evidence for the allegations.
Parler employees did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Over the past year, Facebook and Twitter have stepped up efforts to moderate Trump’s account, although they have stopped removing their posts. Twitter started adding labels to Trump’s fake and misleading tweets last year and prevented users from sharing posts to limit their spread. Facebook also attached labels to some of Trump’s posts, redirecting users to reliable and accurate data.
When Mr. Trump leaves office, companies can have a freer hand. On Twitter, Trump enjoyed exceptions to his rules because the company said it considers posts from world leaders to be in the public interest. But Twitter said that after Trump is no longer president, he will be treated as a regular user.
Before that, the pressure continues on technology companies to do more.
“This level of insurrection should not exist, either on the president’s Twitter platform or on Facebook, which allows people to recruit and carry out these types of dangerous activities,” Derrick Johnson, president and chief executive of the NAACP, said in an interview.
Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reports.