Justice Department files suggest Facebook, not Parler, was key venue for organizing U.S. Capitol attack

Parler was blamed and banished, but Facebook was also noted as a place where those who sacked the U.S. Capitol last month planned their movements. The Department of Justice confirms this in files seen by Forbes, reports Thomas Brewster, and more.

Forbes reviewed data from the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University, which has collated a list of more than 200 charging documents filed in relation to the siege. In total, the charging documents refer to 223 individuals in the Capitol Hill riot investigation. Of those documents, 73 reference Facebook. That's far more references than other social networks. YouTube was the second most-referenced on 24. Instagram, a Facebook-owned company, was next on 20. Parler, the app that pledged protection for free speech rights and garnered a large far-right userbase, was mentioned in just eight.