Untangling rumor Meta labeled some Threads users as members of ‘Antifa’

A rumor circulated online in late September 2025 that Meta, the corporation which owns social media platforms Facebook, Threads and Instagram, started tagging certain Threads users as members of “Antifa,” a colloquial term used for a political movement and ideology opposing fascism. 

Users across social media platforms like Instagram (archived), Facebook (archived) and particularly Threads (archived, archived), claimed certain users saw their posts being tagged with a notice that read, “This user is suspected of being part of a terrorist organization called Antifa. Please report any suspicious behavior.” 

The prevalence of the rumor led many Snopes readers to email us asking for clarification on the rumor and whether Meta was actually responsible for the purported tags.

However, the rumor that Meta added tags to social media posts and declared certain users as “part of a terrorist organization called Antifa” was false. Snopes contacted Meta and a representative confirmed via email that the tag is a user-generated meme and not populated by the company. 

Further, there was no mention of the company announcing any such feature on its newsroom website that regularly updates users on new features. In addition, the only mention of “Antifa” in Meta’s newsroom came from a post, titled, “An Update to How We Address Movements and Organizations Tied to Violence,” dated Aug. 19, 2020. 

The post described Meta’s efforts to combat alleged encouragement of violence surrounding protests that occurred during the summer of 2020. The statement included a section that read, “For militia organizations and those encouraging riots, including some who may identify as Antifa, we’ve initially removed over 980 groups, 520 Pages and 160 ads from Facebook.” 

The post also identified the removal of similar pages and groups related to the fringe conspiracy theory known as QAnon, though Snopes reporting from 2021 showed plenty of QAnon content still featured on Meta platforms. 

The meme allegedly identifying users as “Antifa” appeared to be a response to U.S. President Donald Trump signing an executive order declaring “Antifa as a terrorist threat.” 

The executive order stated, “Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.” 

Further, the executive order suggested a conspiracy to conceal the reality of an “Antifa” organization, declaring: 

Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members. 

In contrast to the Trump administration alleging that “Antifa” is an organized entity, Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told PBS in an interview that the movement was a “political scapegoat,” and said, “simply put, Antifa is just short for anti-fascist. If you want to get more simple than that it just means the opposition to fascism.” 

He continued to say that the notion of an organized “Antifa” is “a widely held misconception” by political opponents. 

Baumgartner explained, “There is no hierarchical organizational structure. It is primarily a movement and an ideology. And there are no leaders. There are no assets. There are no bank accounts or revenue streams to go after, either.”

Due to these conflicting opinions on the nature of “Antifa,” users on social media started posting the fake disclaimer along with otherwise innocuous posts as a satirical joke intended to mock Trump and fellow conservatives’ belief that “Antifa” was a threat to democracy. 

For example, one Threads user posted (archived) “Pumpkin pie is good” and included the purported tag. 

Sources