Facebook takes down ‘boogaloo’ network after pressure

Facebook announced Tuesday that it took down a network of accounts, pages and groups tied to the extremist “boogaloo” movement.

The platform is designating the anti-government movement as a “dangerous organization” and banning it from the platform.

The 220 boogaloo Facebook groups and 95 Instagram accounts were taken down for violating the platform’s policies against organized violence.

Another 400 groups associated with the movement will also be removed.

The network promoted “violence against civilians, law enforcement, and government officials and institutions,” Facebook said in a blog post Tuesday.

“Members of this network seek to recruit others within the broader boogaloo movement, sharing the same content online and adopting the same offline appearance as others in the movement,” it said.

The boogaloo movement, which draws it name jokingly from the 1984 breakdancing movie Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, advocates for violent uprisings with the aim of inciting a race war that will usher in a new government.

The movement has gained thousands of followers since January, largely growing in Facebook groups.

As Facebook noted in its blog post, the movement has drawn new scrutiny from federal authorities recently.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three men in Nevada earlier this month who called themselves members of the movement, accusing them attempting to incite violence at an anti-police brutality protest.

In May, federal officials alleged that Air Force staff sergeant Steven Carrillo killed a security officer during a similar protest in Oakland, Calif.

The complaint filed against him alleged that Carrillo plotted the attack with someone he met in a boogaloo Facebook group and had associated paraphernalia in his van.