Facebook BANS white nationalism and white separatism from its platform as it attempts to bring down the hammer on extremist content
- Facebook is now barring posts about white nationalism and white separatism
- The policy will be put in place starting next week for all of its 2 billion-plus users
- Users who try to post these kinds of content to the site will now be redirected by Facebook to a nonprofit organization that help individuals leave hate groups
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Facebook has banned white nationalism and white separatist posts from its platform, in what likely constitutes its most aggressive action against extremist content yet.
The policy will be put in place starting next week and will affect all of Facebook’s nearly 2 billion-wide user base, according to Motherboard.
The social media giant has removed posts from extremist groups in the past for violating its policies around hate speech and abuse, but has historically fallen short of outright banning posts of this kind.
Facebook has banned white nationalism and white separatist posts from its platform, in what likely constitutes its most sweeping action against extremist content yet
WHAT KINDS OF POSTS WILL BE BANNED?
Previously, Facebook only banned posts promoting white supremacism.
The firm decided today that it will now ban white nationalist and white separatist posts from its platform.
Civil rights groups argued that the three extremist ideologies were indistinguishable and should all be banned.
Posts that include statements like ‘I am a proud white nationalist’ and ‘Immigration is tearing this country apart’ will immediately be banned.
If a user tries to publish a post around these themes, they’ll instead be redirected to a nonprofit called Life After Hate, which helps individuals involved in these extremist groups exit them safely.
As part of the sweeping crackdown, Facebook will no longer allow posts that include statements like ‘I am a proud white nationalist’ and ‘Immigration is tearing this country apart; white separatism is the only answer’ to remain on its site.
If a user posts content including these statements or themes, Facebook will now direct them toward a nonprofit that helps people leave hate groups, Motherboard reported.
The nonprofit, Life After Hate, was created by ex-white power activists and serves as an ‘exit’ program to help people ‘leave the violent far right.’
Prior to Wednesday’s decision, Facebook had only prevented users from sharing messages that promoted white supremacy.
It drew fierce backlash from civil rights advocates who argued that white supremacy is indistinguishable from white nationalism and white separatism.
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Hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the ‘alt-right’ march in Charlottesville, Virginia during the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in August 2017
Now, Facebook is moving to ban all three from its platform.
‘We’ve had conversations with more than 20 members of civil society, academics, in some cases these were civil-rights organizations, experts in race relations from around the world,’ Facebook’s policy director of counterrorism told Motherboard.
‘We decided that the overlap between white nationalism, [white] separatism, and white supremacy is so extensive we really can’t make a meaningful distinction between them.’
Highlighting the thorniness of policing extremist content, Facebook said implicit and coded white nationalism and white separatism will not be removed from the site immediately, as it’s harder to detect and remove.
Facebook moved to ban white nationalist and white separatist posts after about three dozen Facebook employees worked on the topic, including input from COO Sheryl Sandberg.
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