Facebook removes pages of right-wing group Patriot Prayer after Portland
unrest
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[September 05, 2020]
By Andrew Hay and Katie Paul
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc <FB.O>
on Friday removed the pages of U.S. right-wing group Patriot Prayer and
its founder Joey Gibson, a company spokesman told Reuters.
Patriot Prayer has hosted dozens of pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies.
Attendees have repeatedly clashed with left-wing groups around Portland,
Oregon, where one group supporter was killed this week.
The victim, 39-year-old Aaron Danielson, was walking home on Saturday
night after a pro-Trump demonstration in the city when he was shot.
Facebook took down the pages as part of efforts to remove "violent
social militias" from its social networks, spokesman Andy Stone said.
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The company updated its policies last month to ban groups that
demonstrate significant risks to public safety.
Its dangerous organizations policy now includes groups that celebrate
violent acts or suggest they will use weapons, even if they are not
directly organizing violence.
In a statement posted on Patriot Prayer's website, Gibson accused
Facebook of a double standard.
"Antifa groups murdered my friend while he was walking home, and instead
of the multibillion dollar company banning Portland Antifa pages they
ban Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson and several other grandmas that are
admins," he wrote.
Antifa is a largely unstructured, far-left movement whose followers
broadly aim to confront those they view as authoritarian or racist.
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![](../images/090520PIX/news_h15.jpg)
Joey Gibson, leader of the right wing Patriot Prayer group, arrives
at the scene of a shooting amid weekend street clashes between
supporters of President Donald Trump and counter-demonstrators in
Portland, Oregon, U.S. August 29, 2020. Mathieu
Lewis-Rolland/Handout via REUTERS
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Gibson espouses non-violence but is accused by anti-fascist groups
of provoking confrontations.
After the shooting of Danielson he cautioned supporters not to seek
revenge, but rather "push back politically, spiritually."
As of earlier this week, the Patriot Prayer page had nearly 45,000
followers on Facebook. It was created in 2017.
Facebook last week removed content associated with the Kenosha
Guard, a group which had posted a "call to arms" in Kenosha,
Wisconsin.
The company acted the day after two people were shot and killed at
protests in the city, which broke out in response to the police
shooting of a Black man earlier that week.
Users had flagged the material to Facebook 455 times but were told
initially it did not violate the company's policies, BuzzFeed
reported .
(Reporting by Katie Paul and Andrew Hay; Editing by Sandra Maler and
Rosalba O'Brien)
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