WELL, NOW THAT WE’VE ESTABLISHED THAT PLATFORMS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THEIR USERS SAY, SHUT THEM DOWN LIKE PARLER: Facebook’s Sandberg deflected blame for Capitol riot, but new evidence shows how platform played role: Fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram in the days and weeks beforehand.

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has sought to deflect blame, noting the role of smaller, right-leaning services such as Parler and Gab. . . .

A growing body of evidence shows Facebook played a much larger role than Sandberg suggested.

The #StopTheSteal hashtag was widely used on the service until Monday, when a search on Facebook reported that 128,000 people were talking about it and in many cases using it to coordinate for the rally, according to Eric Feinberg, a vice president with the Coalition for a Safer Web.

Of course, back when this was America, “organizing a rally” was seen as, dare I say it, what democracy looks like.

And note that this Washington Post story suggests that it’s okay, and maybe even required, to stop people from organizing in support of their beliefs “when those beliefs are based on misinformation.” Our ruling class really wants us to be like China. (Bumped).