人兽性交

鈥淧RO-ISLAMOPHOBIA SAVES LIVES!!鈥� one anti-Muslim Facebook group reads. Its cover photo is an image of a charred, blackened body.

According to Facebook鈥檚 Community Standards, posts depicting 鈥� 鈥� are prohibited. However, after an academic researcher flagged the group, an automated response was generated and provided to Hatewatch: 鈥淲e looked over the group you reported and though it doesn鈥檛 go against one of our specific Community Standards, we understand that the group or something shared in it may still be offensive to you.鈥�

In early April, the Southern Poverty Law Center (人兽性交) identified 33 anti-Muslim Facebook groups that use violent imagery, including weapons, in their cover photos. Twenty of these groups promote the stereotype that all Muslims are violent. One group, 鈥淚slam unveiled,鈥� has an image of an ISIS fighter executing prisoners lying prone in a shallow grave. The picture is accompanied by a quote accredited to 鈥淢uhammad, Prophet of Islam,鈥� which says, 鈥淜illing Unbelievers is a SMALL MATTER to us.鈥�

Another group, 鈥淎merican Infidels Against Islam Brotherhood,鈥� shows a fighter jet dropping bombs with the caption 鈥淚slam is the cancer.鈥� And yet another group 鈥淐RUSADERS AGAINST THE THREAT OF ISLAMIZATION AND SHARIA LAW鈥� has a cover photo which says 鈥渇oolish infidels coexist鈥� with part of a quote from the Quran, 鈥渟eize them and slay them wherever you find them.鈥�

鈥淚nfidels United for Truth,鈥� has also apparently snuck past Facebook鈥檚 community standards check. 鈥淭his group is for the education and sharing of information globally about the dangers of Radical Terrorism and how it is affecting all of the world. All true Patriots, 111%'s, Preppers, Militia, Constitutionalists, are welcome. Gun porn and 2nd Amendment rights are encouraged, in fact, anything that ties in to our way of life may be posted here鈥︹�� the group description reads. The Three Percenters are an antigovernment extremist movement. The same Facebook group asks, 鈥淎re Muslims taking over the world?鈥� and 鈥淚s Islam a peaceful 鈥渞eligion鈥�?鈥� before admitting members.

Another group, 鈥淚slam is of the Devil鈥� writes in its description, 鈥淭his group is for the people that truly believe that Islam is of the Devil. This is only for the people that want to bring a stop to Islam!鈥�

Researcher and professor of computer science at Elon University, Megan Squire, is conducting a large-scale, ongoing study of hate groups on social media platforms, including Facebook.

鈥淧reliminary results from my research indicate that 鈥� not surprisingly 鈥� groups with broadly 鈥榥ativist鈥� ideologies, including anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views, have significant membership in common,鈥� Squire said.

鈥淏ut this social network analysis also shows that anti-Muslim ideologies in particular can serve as a bridge between mostly disconnected communities, such as between anti-government and white nationalist communities.鈥�

To construct the graph below, Squire first classified Facebook groups into ideologies using 人兽性交's descriptions. She then selected the groups having more than 10 members in common and used social network analysis software to reveal the underlying "co-membership" network.

Each node represents one Facebook group. Lines between the groups indicate that the groups have at least ten members in common. Groups are positioned on the graph according to how similar their membership is. Groups that are closer to the center have more in common with one another. Green nodes, representing anti-Muslim groups, can be seen throughout.

Anti-Muslim hate seems to be the unifying cause hate groups can rally around and engage in on the social media platform. These findings are part of her ongoing research project to study far-right extremist beliefs through social media.

Is Facebook enabling anti-Muslim sentiment?

According to a 2017 Pew research study, polled believe there is a lot of discrimination in the United States against Muslims. Americans polled that same year by Pew rated Muslims on a 鈥渇eeling thermometer鈥� where 0 is the coldest and 100 is the warmest, the among all religions at just 48. This disposition is well illustrated on Facebook, a platform in which Nazis and white nationalists are removed, while anti-Muslim groups remain.

Many publications have highlighted the double standards that exist in policing various demographics. Like other tech companies, Facebook largely responds when there is a controversy that is reported on by a publication. ProPublica points to complaints made by many users and the Anti-Defamation League about a page called 鈥淛ewish Ritual Murder,鈥� which Facebook didn鈥檛 respond to until ProPublica .

Monica Bickert, who leads the global policy management team at Facebook, , 鈥淭he policies do not always lead to perfect outcomes. That is the reality of having policies that apply to a global community where people around the world are going to have very different ideas about what is OK to share.鈥�

On May 2, reported that former Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) will lead an investigation on conservative bias on the platform. Not only have claims of anti-conservative bias been , but Kyl also has history of indulging anti-Muslim rhetoric. In 2009, he hosted a screening of Fitna, a film which shows verses of the Quran with 鈥�graphic footage of atrocities committed by radical Muslims," and invited the film's creator, the far-right Dutch lawmaker聽Geert Wilders,聽to the U.S. Capitol. Earlier that year Wilders was from Britain out of concern that his anti-Muslim views would incite violence. In 2011, Kyl said he was "鈥� of the first ever Congressional hearing on the rights of American Muslims.

Harmful and hateful rhetoric on Facebook is not without consequence. A published in February 2018 by the University of Warwick in Germany found a direct correlation between hateful rhetoric against refugees on the Facebook page of the right-wing party Alternative f眉r Deutschland and incidents against refugees. They further found that during times of country-wide Facebook outages, the 鈥渆ffect of refugee posts on hate crimes vanishes鈥� within weeks. 鈥淥ur results suggest that social media can act as a propagation mechanism between online hate speech and real-life incidents,鈥� they concluded.

According to the , hate crimes against the American Muslim community doubled in the last two years. In March, Chad Horsley, a former Marine, in Livingston, Louisiana, because he thought it was owned by Muslims. In April, three Kansas militia members who called themselves the 鈥淐rusaders鈥� were found guilty in a plot to bomb and kill Somali Muslims.

Meanwhile, the very top of the United States government is awash in anti-Muslim connections. Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller , former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon , Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the recently confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all have extensive ties to organized anti-Muslim hate groups. Then there鈥檚 the president himself and one of his earliest executive orders inspired by these groups: the Muslim Ban .

While Facebook has made strides in removing hateful content, with anti-Muslim hate, it faces a challenge that infects all of American society. In the end, the company will have to decide what it values most. Today, anti-Muslim content finds a home on Facebook.