Facebook’s struggle with Gateway Pundit highlights challenge of containing disinformation

FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is displayed through broken glass in this illustration taken October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) - The Gateway Pundit, a far-right news site, has used its Facebook page - with more than 630,000 followers - to post bogus stories alleging the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. Some commenters responded with threats of violence.

After Gateway Pundit posted a June story on Facebook that included debunked claims of voter fraud in Arizona, a commenter said the governor and secretary of state should be “fed feet first through a woodchipper.” A story featuring false claims of vote-rigging in Fulton County, Georgia, drew comments on Facebook calling for an election worker to be hanged or “shot for treason.”