Facebook removed the “Als 1 achter Jürgen” group from its platform today after the page reached nearly 50,000 members.
“We removed this group because it violated our policy regarding Dangerous Individuals and Organizations,” a spokesperson said.
The group was created last week to show support for the fugitive right-wing soldier, who has managed to evade international efforts to capture him for eight days and counting now after allegedly stealing military-grade weapons from a barracks and leaving behind a letter stating his intent to “join the resistance.”
The Facebook group’s name translates to “As 1 behind Jürgen.” People attempting to reach it are now greeted with the following message:
Members of the Facebook group organised a silent march to show support for Conings, held in Maasmechelen near the nature preserve in which he was initially thought to be hiding.
“Content, groups and pages that praise or support terrorists, such as Jürgen Conings, are not allowed on Facebook or Instagram,” the spokesperson for Facebook said.
It should be noted that Conings is currently a terror suspect and not a terrorist.
Facebook's guidelines do state that they remove groups or pages that support dangerous individuals.
Administrators of the Facebook group thought initially their support group had been hacked. A previous announcement on the page indicated that there was infighting among members.
The administrators of the deleted group have already created a new Facebook page, which has 1,200 members so far.
