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Abusive Facebook comments toward US lawmakers triple, Trump threats double

6/9/2026

Summary

Story summary

Study finds abusive comments targeting U.S. lawmakers tripled on Facebook after Meta changed its policies.
Violent threats and hate speech against lawmakers increased fourfold in the six months following the rule changes.
Threats directed at President Donald Trump more than doubled during the same period, many meeting criteria for felony offenses.
Researchers analyzed nearly 8 million comments on posts from the 100 most-followed House members with AI to flag policy violations.

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Story summary

Study finds abusive comments targeting U.S. lawmakers tripled on Facebook after Meta changed its policies.
Violent threats and hate speech against lawmakers increased fourfold in the six months following the rule changes.
Threats directed at President Donald Trump more than doubled during the same period, many meeting criteria for felony offenses.
Researchers analyzed nearly 8 million comments on posts from the 100 most-followed House members with AI to flag policy violations.