Conservative activist family behind 'grassroots' anti-quarantine Facebook events

Protests against state stay-at-home orders have attracted a wide range of fringe activists and ardent Trump supporters. They have also attracted a family of political activists whom some Republican lawmakers have called "scam artists." A family-run network of pro-gun groups is behind five of the largest Facebook groups dedicated to protesting the shelter-in-place restrictions, according to an NBC News analysis of Facebook groups and website registration information.

The groups were set up by four brothers — Chris, Ben, Aaron and Matthew Dorr — and have amassed more than 200,000 members collectively, according to an NBC News analysis based on public records searches and Facebook group registrations. The Dorr brothers are known among mainstream conservative activists for inflammatory campaigns that harvest data. The brothers are the founders or directors of or advisers to a string of nonprofit organizations across 12 states that have raised millions of dollars

The pages are just part of the more than 100 state-specific Facebook groups that have been created in the last two weeks to protest the stay-at-home orders, according to an unpublished analysis by First Draft, an organization that researches disinformation. The pages have organized at least 49 different events. Most of the groups are similarly named, and they have attracted more than 900,000 members in total.

"The Dorr brothers are established scam artists," according to an article on Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life's website. "Nothing they say can be believed, and giving them your money will not advance your cause in any way."

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/conservative-activist-family-behind-grassroots-anti-quarantine-facebook-events-n1188021