Sandberg deflected blame for Capitol riot, but fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram weeks beforehand

Fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram in the days and weeks beforehand

Washington Post 2021-01-14 Elizabeth Dwoskin

Context & Ripple Effects

Sheryl Sandberg publicly deflected blame for the Capitol riot, but the platform record undercuts that account: fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram for weeks beforehand. The same day, Facebook was already removing posts of fliers promoting events leading up to Biden's inauguration, an implicit acknowledgment that its own networks were carrying the organizing material.

First-order effects

Facebook's enforcement teams are working against the company's own narrative — the same-day flier removals show the platform treating rally promotion as a live threat even as its COO distances the company from it.

Second-order effects

The gap between Sandberg's public stance and the on-platform evidence invites deeper document-based scrutiny, the pattern later confirmed when [[a:972099|internal docs showed Facebook staff faulted the company for failing to thwart Stop the Steal groups]] that fomented January 6 violence.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, executive denials become checkable against platform archives — an analysis later found 650,000+ posts questioned Biden's victory between Election Day and the siege — shifting accountability fights toward internal records and data forensics rather than press statements.

The trend: Platform executives' public explanations for January 6 are increasingly contradicted by their own enforcement logs, internal reports, and post-volume data, moving accountability from statements to documents.

Discussion

@marckeepper Marc Keepper on x
Facebook is a seditious & treasonous cancer on America. Zuckerberg & Sandberg should be investigated for seditious incitement. https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook misinformation. https://twitter.com/...
@bucksexton Buck Sexton on x
Amazon, Apple and Google now have an ethical obligation to ambush and shut down Facebook- That's how we were told this works. https://twitter.com/...
@ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x
Facebook has been repeatedly proven to be a venue for provoking mass violence and promoting extremism. But it contributes huge amounts of money to the Dem Party, and has massive power over journalists. So they decided to destroy Parler when FB's role was far bigger.
@ozraeliavi @ozraeliavi on x
It turns out they all BANNED Parler for Facebook's crime. Because it was never about really about what happened at the Capitol. It was always about knocking off a growing competitor that was also giving conservatives a place. It was and still is a coup. https://twitter.com/...
@logicalmeme Logical Meme on x
“A growing body of evidence shows FB played a much larger role than Sandberg suggested.” Very surprised WaPo addressing this. As @ggreenwald recently reported on @TuckerCarlson's show, more organizing for the Capitol march took place on FB than on Parler. https://www.washingtonpo…
@justsomeguycc Just Some Guy on x
Deflection, Thy Name Is Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@evale72 Eddie Vale on x
@Facebook *own spox* points out they unblocked the content that was used to help fuel & plan the attack!? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@getongab @getongab on x
Told you so. Facebook has a dedicated Events feature. Gab does not. Facebook is built for organizing and has billions of users. Not Gab. To blame the organization of the Jan 6th protest on Gab is lunacy. Journalists, take note: https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
you don't say https://twitter.com/...
@thompsonlab @thompsonlab on x
Facebook will only eliminate harmful disinformation when compelled to by regulators. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@phmai Philip Mai on x
Wow, the level of pushback on this @donie's tweet by team FBk is v. telling. Just as telling is the subtle use of “don't break us up b/c our size (& resources) is what allows us to stop bad things.” It's not 🤥. Get ready for 10K & 1 vers. of this argument this yr. #antitrust http…
@froomkin Dan Froomkin on x
I am getting increasingly uncomfortable at people failing to distinguish between law-breaking, disinformation, and political speech. For instance, should Facebook have shut down any promotion of attending Trump's political rally? That's assumed here: https://www.washingtonpost.co…
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Facebook was more helpful to the riot than Parler. Let's follow the logic here. Parler's business model is dangerous and should be illegal. Facebook caused even more violent activity than Parler. Therefore... https://twitter.com/...
@chadscherrer Chad Scherrer on x
@ylecun @georgebernhard @RichardDawkins FB refused to fact check political ads, which fueled extremism. And it provided a convenient forum for them to organize: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
.@lizzadwoskin outlined several ways that Facebook was used to organize last week's rally. https://twitter.com/...
@ylecun Yann LeCun on x
@georgebernhard @RichardDawkins Social media would be guilty if it amplified hate speech and calls to violence. But FB takes that down, which is why Trump and the far-right hate FB so much. 94.7% of hate speech is taken down automatically by AI. https://about.fb.com/...
@yossigestetner Yossi Gestetner on x
OMG. Apple and Google are about to deplatform Facrbook. Kidding. That's only for @parler_app as a way to crush political opponents and businesses not in the gang. https://twitter.com/...
@randpaul Senator Rand Paul on x
Instead of canceling people, Facebook should look in the mirror Sheryl Sandberg downplayed Facebook's blame for Capitol riot, but evidence points to role - The Washington Post https://www.google.com/...
@khandozo Kristen Hanley Cardozo on x
“That has always been the two-pronged power of Sheryl Sandberg's own womanhood: she has used it to position her success in a sexist industry as a feminist victory, and in turn she has used that to insulate her and Facebook from culpability.” https://newrepublic.com/...
@maeveynot @maeveynot on x
. @melissagira breaks down what Sandberg's job really is. https://newrepublic.com/... follow that link. read Kate's book. https://twitter.com/...
@melissagira Melissa Gira Grant on x
White women will do a lot to erase ourselves—and that's what likening a lynch mob to GBV is doing—from our participation in white supremacist violence. https://newrepublic.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@newrepublic @newrepublic on x
The same day Sheryl Sandberg minimized Facebook's role in service of the armed people who tried to take the Capitol, people who claimed responsibility for organizing the mob were using Facebook and Instagram to plan more of them. https://newrepublic.com/...
@newrepublic @newrepublic on x
“She can own the power she has. She can stop lying. She can divest of her Facebook fortune. At the very least, she can resign.” —@melissagira on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: https://newrepublic.com/...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
NEW via @JeffHorwitz + me: As a mob overtook the Capitol last Wed, Facebook's warning bells blared. User reports of violent posts jumped >10-fold from the AM. One employee deck noted: “business as usual isn't working.” https://www.wsj.com/...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
Internal docs & sources show how these signals, coupled with shifting political winds, pushed FB to take aggressive action against Pres. Trump & his supporters. FB also privately designated the U.S. a “temporary high-risk location” for political violence. https://www.wsj.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
“Facebook's platforms were aflame.” Great read: https://twitter.com/...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
FB's CTO told employees that execs were trying to figure out how to allow peaceful discussion but not calls for violence. 1 employee replied: “All due respect, but haven't we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence?"https://www.wsj.com/ ...
@adamholisky Adam Holisky on x
This could be huge. Details of what signals the FB teams were seeing need to be made public for the safety of this country. https://twitter.com/...
@benfritz Ben Fritz on x
Mr. Zuckerberg's refusal to take down Mr. Trump's post warning, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”... coincided with a nearly 30-point reduction in employee confidence in Facebook's leadership, according to internal “pulse” polls. https://www.wsj.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
People still working inside of the White House under Trump. People still working at Facebook under Sandberg and Zuckerberg. No difference. https://twitter.com/...
@newley Newley Purnell on x
Facebook's platforms were aflame, the documents show. One Instagram presentation, circulated internally and seen by the Journal, was subtitled “Why business as usual isn't working.” Excellent reporting by @JeffHorwitz @dseetharaman: https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

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