“Join your local Militia or III% Patriot Group,” one post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army. Accompanied by the logo of the Three Percenters militia network and the image of a man in tactical gear holding a long rifle, the post continues: “Now more than ever. Support the American militia side.”
Other content and messages in the group are similar. And despite the fact that Facebook bans paramilitary organization and classifies the Three Percenters as an “armed militia group” on its 2021 list of dangerous people and organizations, the post and group remained active until WIRED Meta reached out for comment about its existence.
Free American Army is just one of about 200 similar Facebook groups and profiles, most still active, that anti-government and far-right extremists use to coordinate local militia activity across the country.
After keeping a low profile for several years following the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, militia extremists have quietly reorganized and increased recruitment and rhetoric on Facebook — apparently without much concern that Meta will enforce its ban on them is shared exclusively with WIRED, according to a new study from the Tech Transparency Project.
Across the United States, individuals with long-standing ties to militia groups are creating networks of Facebook pages, encouraging others to recruit and attend meetings of “active patriots,” and openly associating themselves with well-known militia-related sub-ideologies such as that of anti-government groups Three percent movement. They also promote combat training and urge their followers to be “prepared” for whatever lies ahead. These groups seek to facilitate organizing locally, state by state and county by county. Their goals are vague, but many of their posts convey a general sense of urgency about the need to prepare for “war” or “fight back” against many perceived enemies, including drag queens, immigrants, pro-Palestinian college students, Communists…and the US government.
These groups are also regrouping at a time when anti-government rhetoric has continued to rise in mainstream political discourse ahead of a contentious, high-stakes presidential election. And by doing all of this on Facebook, they hope to reach a larger pool of potential recruits than would be the case on a comparatively fringe platform like Telegram.
“Many of these groups are no longer fragmented groups of local militias, but rather coalitions of multiple militia groups, many with Three Percenters at the helm,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project. “Facebook remains the largest meeting place for extremists and militia movements to build a wide network and direct users to more private chats, including on the platform, where they can plan and coordinate with impunity.”
Paul told WIRED that she has monitored “hundreds” of militia-related groups and profiles since 2021 and watched them become “increasingly emboldened by more serious and coordinated organizing” over the past year.
One particularly influential account in this Facebook ecosystem belongs to Rodney Huffman, leader of the Confederate States III%, an Arkansas-based militia that in 2020 attempted to rally extremists at Stone Mountain in Georgia, a popular location for Confederate and white supremacist groups . Huffman has created a network of Facebook groups and is spreading the word about local meetups. His partner, Dabbi Demere, is equally active and has made it his mission to recruit “active” patriots for the groups. Huffman and Demere are also key players in the pro-Confederate movement known as “Heritage, not Hate.”