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On Sunday, we published some of our reporting on The Jacob Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group, as part of a broader piece on the effect of public and private Facebook groups on politics in the UK.
Here's the link to the thread for those who missed it -
Here's the link to the thread for those who missed it -
Our research has entered a wider debate about the mainstreaming of politically extreme views, something brought to light by @DavidLammy on the Andrew Marr show yesterday and @mrjamesob on his LBC show discussing the Jacob Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group.
We thought we'd give more context to this debate by sharing a couple of other findings from the Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group – again, not affiliated with @Jacob_Rees_Mogg or the Conservative Party.
Some comments by politicians over the past few months have invited discussion on the group. Multipled threads arose after @BorisJohnson wrote a column comparing those wearing burkas to letterboxes. Here a member posted on the group asking whether they should support Johnson. 
In this thread, a member posts a woman of a picture wearing a burka and says: "BORIS DON'T APOLOGISE !!!" Again comments follow.
Another member of the Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group posts a link to a poll asking whether Boris Johnson should apologise for his burka comments, leaving other members to weigh in.
We also look at the group's membership. Some are also members of a far-right closed Facebook group (a self-avowed "alt-right" international group to which we gained access), where one member expresses a “final solution” for Jewish people & another a desire to kill all Muslims.
One member of both groups is a woman who claims to have been a Conservative member for 30 years – she wrote in 2017 that she would only renew her membership if Rees-Mogg became Prime Minister. She also runs a closed Facebook group for “true blue” Conservatives.
Another member of the Supporters’ Group is Carl Benjamin, a YouTuber running to be a UKIP MEP. Yesterday @AlexWickham & @MarkDiStefano described his Discord chatroom, where some allegedly discussed killing pro-EU politicians and their support for the Christchurch terrorist.
The twitter account @JacobMates has been working tirelessly to bring the more disturbing content on the Jacob Rees-Mogg Supporters’ Group to light, which has so far led to the suspension of several Conservative members from the party for Islamophobic comments made on the group.
The reaction online has thrown up some key questions. Lots want to know who’s accountable. Some agree with @JessPhillips that if you were in @Jacob_Rees_Mogg’s shoes you’d be taking legal action to get the group removed from Facebook (or, at the least, your name taken off it).
Others believe that @facebook has dropped the ball in its policing of possible hate speech on the group, and that administrators need to be held responsible.
When we talked to one of the administrators, John Simpson, who lives in Moscow, he insisted that "there are no death threats on the group, and the group is well-monitored. Any unpleasant comments are removed immediately."
And Rees-Mogg: “The vast majority of posts and comments are perfectly fine and abide by the rules of the group. Nevertheless ... clearly a few members of the group think it acceptable to post death threats and other very unpleasant material. I absolutely condemn such behaviour."
The original research formed part of a piece by @XAMGreenwood looking at the effect of public and private Facebook forums on politics. You can read the story in full here. torto.se/2Go1RLD
Sorry, the correct handle is @MatesJacob.
