What We Learned Investigating a Network of Islamophobic Facebook Pages

Snopes traced at least 24 Facebook pages spreading anti-muslim vitriol and conspiracy theory back to one evangelical activist. Here’s why that matters.

A Snopes investigation on 15 May 2019 looked deeply into a small group of radical evangelical Christians that re-purposed Facebook pages and PACs to build a coordinated, pro-Trump network that spreads hate and conspiracy theories — below is a re-cap of key points. The content includes the assertion that the survivors of the Parkland school massacre are on a “leftist-Islamic payroll” and that Islamic refugee resettlement is “cultural destruction and subjugation.”

The names of these Facebook pages imply diverse support from Americans, with titles like “Blacks for Trump” and “Jews and Christians for America.” But Snopes.com found that each of these pages can be tied to a radical evangelical activist named Kelly Monroe Kullberg, who is neither black nor Jewish. We found at least 24 pages in the Kullberg network, which could be in violation of Facebook’s ban on “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

For some years, I have reported on the veritable army of itinerant hate mongers who spread anti-Islamic propaganda through the evangelical/fundy “guest speaker” networks. This is an ideal vector, since they have a semi-captive and largely credulous audience and outsiders rarely hear the often hair-raising claims. This is where ideas of rampant shariah law and Judeo-Islamic conspiracy reside before they spill over into public discourse by way of the intellectual bankrupt and morally depraved Texas legislature and its counterparts elsewhere.

“Evangelical organizations are the primary funders of anti-Muslim animus”

Abbas Barzegar, the director of the Department of Research and Advocacy at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.